1 39 056
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
THE m
TO-DMY
BY
DR. ARTHUR RUPPIN
TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN BY
MARGERY BENTWICH
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
JOSEPH JACOBS, Litt.D.
AUTHOR OF “studies IN JEWISH STATISTICS”
NEW YORK
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
CONTENTS
/
PART I. ASSIMILATION
Section 1. Assimilation in the Diaspora a constant
menace to Judaism
CHAP. FAGB
1 . Review of Jewish Assimilation,— His-
torical AND Sociological, - - i
The process of disruption in the present day. Social
life of the Jews before their emancipation. The eman-
cipation of the J ews. The disintegration of J udaism by
adoption of modem education. Analogous assimilative
movements of the Jews in the epochs of Greek and
Arabic culture. The assimilation of minor nationalities
— a common social phenomenon. Reasons for the
power of resistance to assimilation shown by the
Jews hitherto. The breakdown of the obstructions
to assimilation and consequent breaking-up of
Jewry.
\
n. The Numerical Strength of the Jews, - • 30
Retrospect on the number of Jews since the dispersion.
Lost branches of Judaism. The existing numbers of
Jew^ and the spread of Jewry, The local distribution
VI
CONTENTS
Section II. The Causes of Rapia Assimilation
in the Present Day
CHAV.
III. Economic Progress of the Jews, -
New value attached to the commercial activities of the
Jews since the dawn of the capitalistic era. Success of
the Jews in capitalistic enterprise. Wealth of the Jews
in industrially developed countries. Poverty of the
Jews in industrially backward countries. The prin-
cipal vocations followed by Jews. Non- wage earning
dependents of the West-European Jews. Possibilities
of advance in the industrial position of the Jews of
Eastern Europe.
IV. The Declining Birth-Raxe, -
Decline in the Jewish birth-rate and its causes. Low
death-rate of the Jews partially equalises the effect of
the low birth-rate. Decrease in numbers resulting from
birth-rate.
V. Dispersion,
Immigration to the United States. Immigration to
England. Summary of immigration and emigration.
Influence of emigration on assimilation. Inland
migrations. ^
yt Congestion in the Laege Towns^-
Cam^ bCtapid assindlation in lar^^e townie ^
of the^iSitraHsation of Jews in latge tqwnr?
for the capitals. London and New York.
CONTENTS
vii
Section III. The Various Phases of Assimilation
CHAf. PAGE
VII. Adoption of the Language of the
Country, - - - - , - 109
Changesof language in the history of the Jews. Causes .
of the changes of language. The spread of Yiddish.
Extent of the adoption of European languages. Changes
of language and its relation to assimilation.
VIII. Adoption of Cosmopolitan Culture, - 119
The Jew's craving for education. The decline of the
** Cheder." Increasing importance of secular schools.
The Universities, Modem culture and assimilation.
Decreasing Importance of Religion, -
Origin of the Jewish religion. Jewish orthodoxy in the
present day. Liberal Judaism. Destructive forces.
137
X. Intermarriage, 157
The increase of intermarriage. The children of mixed
marriages. Losses to Judaism caused by intermarriage.
XI. Baptism, 181
Conversion in former times. Baptism at the present
day. Missionary societies. Prognostics for the future.
XII. Anti-Semitism an Ineffective Check
TO Assimilation, - - - - 197
Anti-Semitism in Germany and Austria. Anti-Semi-
tism in other countries. Causes of anti-Semitism. The
importance of anti-Semitism in the assimilationist
movement.
vm
CONTENTS
PART II. JEWISH NATIONALISM
Section IV. The Foundations of Jewish Nationalism
CHAP. PACE
XIII. Race Value of the Jews, - - - 211
The justification for the continued existence of the Jews
as a separate nation. The intellectual gifts of the Jews.
The artistic proclivities of the Jews. The Jews and
ethics. The value of the Jewish race.
XIV. Cultueal Value of the Jews, - - 229
Race and culture. The value of modem Jewish culture.
The new Jewish culture a combination of Jewish tra-
dition with modem education.
Section V. The Aims of Jewish Nationalism
XV. Creation of a Self-Contained Jewish
Economic Life by a return to ,,
Agriculture, - - - . - - 241
The importance of agricultural occupation for a com-
munity of Jews. Small participation of Jews in agri-
culture. Results of Jewish agricultural colonisation
hitherto. Economic possibility of a return to ^ri-
culture. Colonisation — philanthropic and national.
XVI. Reyiyal of the Hebrew Language, -
Yiddish and Hebrew. Hebi^w as the naHona! langUH^e
in iPalestine.
CONTENTS
IX
XVII. Local Segregation of the Jews, - 265
Local segregation and its relation to culture. Pros-
pects of segregation in Eastern Europe. Prospects of
segregation in the colonies — ^Territorialism. Prospects
of segregation in Palestine — Zionism.
Section VL Zionism
XVIII. Zionism, 275
Origin and growth of Zionism. Revival of Judaism
by Zionism, Economic activity of the Zionists in
Palestine. Zionism and the Turkish Government.
Relations with the non- Jewish population of Palestine.
Economic possibilities for Jewish immigrants in Pales-
tine. The prospects of Zionism.
Index, 303
INTRODUCTION
" Life is interesting, if not happy,” Sir John Seeley
used to say. The same may be said of the Jews who
have had the unfortxmate fcaack of attracting the
world's attention to themselves for the last two thousand
years, with results often disastrous to themselves.
Formerly the interest was theological. The Jews were
the solitary exception to the Christian consensus. Yet,
curiously enough, just as theology is losing its hold
on the world’s attention, the mterest in the Jew has
risen again to the same heights as before.
Indeed, the modem Jew is anomalous enough to
attract the attention of a world curious, above all
things, about anopaalies. The most modem of men
with the most ancient of faiths, sceptical yet lo3ral,
materialist and idealist in one, cosmopolitan yet
priding himself on his patriotism, conspicuous among
both capitalists and socialists, exploiter and exploited,
the Jew remains the Sphinx of the nations, asking the
s^pitemal Jewish question. Or, rather, he is always
raising a whole Cadmean crop of qu^tions, economic,
demographic, religiouq, social, eugenical, even political.
Are the Jews of to-day the direct descendants of the
Israelites of old ? Wffl Judaism survive the assaults
of modem criticism and scepticism ? Are Jews a
peq^, ,a nation, a sect or a race ? Is there a specific
xii
INTRODUCTION
Jewish culture differing from the civilisations of the
nation among whom they live ? Is there a Jewish
music, a Jewish art ? What is the cause of the com-
parative superiority of the Jewish intellect, if there be
such superiority ? These are but samples of questions
that have been raised in our own times about Jews and
still lack definite answers.
There is even a certain scientific interest about
investigations into Jewish phenomena. Thus the
question about the purity of the Jewish race, on which
so much has been written of recent years, has a direct
bearing on the opposition noticed by the late, Sir
Francis Galton, between the nature and the nurture
of men. In other words, does birth or training deter-
mine human characteristics ? The Jews throw light
upon this subject whether they are a distinctive race
or not. If they are, their common characteristics
shown in such different parts of the world is evidence
of the influence of breed or nature. If they are not,
the same characteristics prove the influence of nurture^
education or environment. Jewish characteristics
have even been made the subject of discussion in the
struggle now going on between the Mendelians and the
Biometricians. The former assert, the latter deny,
that Jewish features are hereditable in mixed marriages,
according to the Mendelian Law.
So too, the sociologist can find facts for or against
his generalisations from Jewish phenomena. Jews, for •
example, are predominantly tow|i dwellers, and it is
a problem for the sociologist toj^ertam how frur their
common characteristics, e.g., ijbeir shorter height,
due to this fact. Or again, tt^ diimmcy -iin nurtUMl'
may ^ow strildag pheiMnnena eyoo In the, Mae
area. , Thus, Sir Isidore Spichnann anil myself, on-
INTRODUCTION
xm
measuring the heights of a number of London Jews,
arrived at the interesting result that the heights of
those dwelling in the West End or richer parts of
London were, on an average, two inches greater than
those dwelling in the East End where poverty prevails.
As all our subjects were descendants of the same class
of Jews the increase of height was obviously due to
better nourishment.
The general form of these problems, anthropological,
sociological or demographic, is by way of comparison
both in the popular and the scientific interest. Jews
are the more musical, or more materialistic, or richer,
or meaner, than their Gentile neighbours, is the general
way of making statements about Jewish characteristics.
Yet in every case we are met with the curious fact
that while some Jews are more musical than their non-
Jewish neighbours, they have a larger number of deaf
mutes who cannot be musical ; or again, while some of
them axe richer, a very large proportion of them are
poorer than others. Such contrasts raise problems
which have something more than a mere popular
interest of curiosity.
The very methods by which such problems can be
approached have not yet been determined. The nearest
:a|^oach is afforded by the Galtonian curves of fre-
■quency, as developed by Prof. Karl Pearson. Roughly
epeaking, this method consists iu determining how
‘many Jews out of each million fall within each of the
sixteen classes into which any given body of men may
be divided with rfegaxd to the possession of any specific
characteristic — musical ability, riches and poverty,
int^lect and insanity, and the like. Of course, the
va^ mtafoiity of men, when ranged in order of merit
to any of these qualities, cluster round the
XIV
INTRODUCTION
centre or average classes. But if we assume that the
curves of distribution thus obtained are normal or,
sjunmetrical, the differences between them at both
extremes should be the same. Thus, if at the superior
limit of the distribution of Jewish intellect, there are
more geniuses among a million Jews than among the
same number of Germans, there should be, at the other
end of the Jewish curve of intellect, more idiots and
insane persons among Jews than among Germans ;
this is found to be the case. Similarly they have both
more rich and more poor, more persons musically
gifted, but yet more deaf mutes, more philanthropists
at one end of the curve of altruism and more greedy
and stingy persons at the other end. Thus, by a mere
deduction from rigid mathematical laws many of the
anomalies that the Jewish people present are, to some
extent, explained.
The difficulties of appl3nng such a method are
enormous, and indeed I believe that, up to the present,
I have been the only person sufficiently daring to
attempt such an explanation. Your average man is
so predominant in point of numbers that he swamps
all those much above or much below the average, and
yet it is only the exceptional persons, as a rule, that we
can count. Hence in making deductions about the
relative position of two races, judged by their respective
curves of distribution, or ra&er by the ends of such
curves, it would seem as if we were making the tail or,
even the tip of the tail, wag the dog. Take, for example,
an instance which I recently had occasion to work out.
In the fifth edition of We/r Ist’s, the German equiv^ent
of our Who’s Who, I have found 1064 Jenj^ names
out of the 16,000 therein mentioned, ot, in olher words,
6.5 par cent., whereas the Jews in the Gerinan-speak&(|f
INTRODUCTION
XV
countries are not much more than i per cent. Yet
it would be precarious in the extreme to deduce any
conclusions as to the relative superiority of intellect
of the average German-speaking Jew as compared with
his Gentile neighbour. Jews are predominantly of the
mercantile classes, and it is from these classes almost
exclusively that the professional element, which fills
out such books of celebrities, is mainly recruited.
Thus figures when applied to Jewish phenomena are
often deceptive, or at least have to be interpreted with
great care. Yet without figures what have we ?
Merely impressions or, often, only prejudices, which are
specially strong in the case of Jews. Hence, when
examining, some thirty years ago, into the charges
which anti-Semites brought against the Jews, I found
it necessary to get as many numerical facts as possible
about the Jews in their various aspects, economic,
demographic, and the like, and thus started a series
of investigations which have grown into a whole
literature, of which this book of Dr. Ruppin’s is a
striking example. He treats his subject, at least in
the second edition, now represented in this English
version, from the standpoint of a single problem, which,
however, touches upon most of the other problrans
which the Jewish question raises. When the walls
of the Ghetto fell some fifty years ago the admfe^n of
the Je\is into modem sodety on comparativdy equal
terms raised the question how far their distinctive
characteristics — ^int^ectual, cultural, rdigious and the
rest — ^would survive the contact with modem culture,
fsxm which repressive legislation had hitherto restrained
them. Would they, could they be assimilated into
mcxlem European culture and still remain Jews in
«i®racteristics they had retained throughout the
XVI
INTRODUCTION
Christian ages ? That is the problem which Dr. Ruppin
sets himself to solve, and the answer he gives is a decided
negative.
Dr. Ruppin comes to this conclusion after the widest
possible induction of the cultural and demographic
facts relating to modem Jews. He starts with the
asstunption that there was a specific Jewish culture
developed out of the old biblical culture of Jews into
the Ghetti of the Middle Ages with their autonomous
organisation and isolation from the rest of the world.
This culture found its appropriate medium in the sacred
language of Hebrew, in which most Jewish children
were trained from their earliest youth, and was fostered
by a sense of common descent and creed, and, in later
centuries, of common persecution. This Ghetto life
and culture continued down to the middle of the nine
teenth century with most Western European Jews and
is stiH predominant among the Jews of Eastern Europe.
But it is being broken down mainly by Jews themselves
who, in West Europe and America, have deserted the
“ Chedarim,” or special Jewish schools in which
Hebrew is taught. They frequent the schools and
colleges of the nations among which they dwell and, in
many ways, adopted the interest of their neighbours
in preference to, or side by side with, those of their
own people. Dr. Ruppin also points out the rapid
increase of intermarriage between Jews and Gentiles,
especially m Germany and Austria, which almost
necessarily breaks down the transmission of the special
Jewish culture to the children. In the same countries
baptism has, of recent years, considaraWy increased
as a means of getting social recognition and professicmal
advancament. Dr. Ruppin appears to think that ^
congestion of Jews in large towns is also a fector t«n<||j^
INTRODUCTION xvii
to assimilation. But it is difficult to agree with him
on this point. Surely the bringing together of many
Jews is rather a cause of the retention of the Jewish
spirit than otherwise. So too, the recent decline in
the, birth-rate among Jews has little bearing upon the
problem of assimilation except, in so far as by limiting
the numbers of Jews m the future, it may render the
proportion of the assimilated comparatively larger.
However, there can be no doubt that, on the whole,
Jews, especially in Western Europe and America, have
become more like their neighbours in social practices
and in the adoption of the surrounding culture in its
widest sense. And if this were to result in the dis-
appearance or diminution of the specific Jewish spirit
this would be a misfortune not alone for the Jews them-
selves but for the world in general. The great danger
of modem times is the tendency towards what may be
termed Chinesism, a fatal and monotonous sinulaxi^
and mediocrity invading all sections of national life.
One of the outward signs of this is the deadly monotony
of dress and furniture, which is becoming more and
more international. The growth of inter-communica-
tion is giving a common set of ideas and ideals to the
whole world and making it more and more difficult for
any special culture like the Irish, or the Japanese, or the
Jewish, to hold its own. Every such specific culture
that disappears would make the final form of humanity,
which seems so rapidly approaching, less rich and
manifold. There would be nothing gained for the
world and much would be lost for it if all Jews were
to-morrow to become indistinguishable from their
neighbours.
But does it altogether follow that the advance of
modem culture among Jews must necessarily destroy
XVIU
INTRODUCTION
their specific characteristics and ideals ? Modern
civilisation, in some of its chief aspects, is based upon
the Hebraic ideals, and the rapid manner in which
Jews have acquired modem culture is itself a proof
that there is no incongruity between the Jewish folk-
soul and European civilisation. In England, France,
Germany and America the Jew, in the immediate past,
has shown himself quite capable of being strongly and
patriotically English, French, German and American,
but still retaining his devotion to his faith, his interest
in the fate and misfortunes of his fellow Jews throughout
the world. Such Jews have had a duplex culture,
and their nature has, in consequence, become richer
and more iridescent. So far as this is so, both Jews
and the world have gained by their adoption of modern
culture.
But in qne respect Jews have certainly suffered
incalculable harm by their assimilation of modern
thought. The centre of Jewish life was religion ; to
uphold the ancestral faith was their raison d’Hre. Yet
modem thought has largely undermined the older
revelational views of religion, of which Judaism was
the typical example. It is one of the ironies of history
that just when Jews have been released from their
mediaeval bondage and have been admitted to pcditical
and, to some extent, social equality with the Eunsf^an
nations, the faith that has kept them ahve, and at^lhe
same time isolated them from their neighbours, has
been dismpted by the assaults of modem rationalism.
-Anti-Semites assert that much of modem scepticism
Ms been due to Jewish influerrM m pfess and
general literature. The processAp b#ek'j«ther the
other way, and the late AnatoteTeroy'^fetaieu was
undoubtedly right in assarting that it was raoiera
INTRODUCTION
XIX
culture that had made Jews sceptical rather than that
Jews had interpenetrated modem culture with scep-
ticism. There is a rationalistic strain in Jewish
thought and theology, as is illustrated by the specula-
tions of Abraham ibn Ezra, Maimonides and Spinoza ;
and this rationalism has, undoubtedly, helped the
rapid assimilation of modem thought by Jewish
thinkers. But the disrapting effect came, in the first
place, from the Encyclopedists and Kant.
Yet there are those who consider that the funda-
mentals of Judaism are identical with the most pro-
minent aspects of modem thinking. Its two main
dogmas, the Divine Unity and the Messianic Hope,
only express, in historic form, the fundamental science
conception of the Unity of Energy and the essentially
modem notion of Progress. Whatever changes the
religious consciousness may undergo in the near future,
these conceptions will survive, and Judaism has at least
as great a chance of passing uninjured through the
critical transition of religious thought as any of the
historic faiths.
It will thus be seen that Dr. Ruppin’s work raises <1
world-problem of the highest interest. The apswer
he gives to the question he himself has raised is the
Zionist solution. This, as is well known, regards the
revival of Israel as q political entity as the only means
of combating the disappearance of the Jewish spirit.
By creating a Jewish nation on the soil of the ancient
fatherland in Palestine Zionists hope to revive and
mtensifysthe special Jewish culture which has lasted
on through the ages tfll its existence is now threatened
the assimilation of modera-^plture. It is recog-
nibid that it will be impossible t^ te^e r the whole
of ti^ fourteen million Jews of the v^^^o the narrow
XX
INTRODUCTION
confines of the Holy Land ; but if there were estab-
lished a spiritual as well as a political centre in Zion
its example and influence would radiate through all
Jewish communities throughout the world and thus
keep alive the Jewish folk-soul. The romance of the
notion must appeal to every heart, Jewish or Gentile,
conscious of the aspirations and ideals that have
clustered round the Holy Land ever since the fall o£
the Jewish State.
Without going into the general question, we may’
doubt how far the Zionist solution meets the parti-
cular problem raised by Dr. Ruppin in his. interesting
work. Jews outside Palestine — and the majority of
them, it is recognised on all hands, must remain outside
for all time— wiU be just as much subject to the assaults
of the assimilative forces after as before the foimdation
of a new Jewish State. The diflBiculties of the Jewish
position, now due to their being an inter-nation, will
be rather increased than diminished, if they once more
form a nation. There will be troubles of Ultrama-
rinism corresponding to the difficulties of Ultramon-
tanism in the Catholic State.
The source of all the troubles that beset the Jews,
in their relation to the outer world, is to be found in
the continuance of their mediaeval status in one great
modem Empire, which still retains a constitution
based on mediaeval conceptions. Russia iS still a
Church-State, in which only those who belong to the
National Church have full rights as citizens.. Hus
obsolete conception must break down in Rxissia as it
has done elsewhere, with the development of industrial
democracy within the Czar’s dominions. When that
day arrives the Russian Jews will take their fitting
place in their native country and will no longer be
INTRODUCTION
XXI
thrust elsewhere into that sudden contact with modem
thought which leads to the assimilation so much
dreaded by Dr. Ruppin. Jews throughout the ages
have faced this problem of assimilation with success,
as was notably shown in the great Spanish-Arabic
period, when Jews acquired all that their Arab con-
querors could teach them of Greek science and philo-
SPphy without losing aught of their Jewish feeling and
culture. The same occurred in Holland, in France,
'in England, and, to a large extent, in Germany. The
danger of a conflict of cultures, which Dr. Ruppin so
much deprecates, is the danger of religion in general,
which would assail Jew« even on the sacred soil of
Palestine with as much intensity as elsewhere.
Dr. Ruppin has another and more personal reason
for advocating their return to the Holy Land as a
prophylactic against assimilation. He regards a return
to the soil, in a literal sense, as a necessary means of
salvation for the modem man, debased and degenerated
by urban conditions. In its general aspects this is
a problem too large to be discussed in this place, though
it may be remarked that the increase of urban taxation
and the development of electrical power will probably
send back even the industrial population to the laud
before another generation is past. Jews, however,
have a special need of an agricultural element owing to
their having been so long cooped up in towns, leading
to a one-sided development towards inteUectualism.
Jewish leaders have recognised this need both within
and outside Palestine, the most prominent examples,
of the latter being the Baron de Hirsch colonies in the
Argentine and the 40,000 Jewish farmers of the United
States. In Palestine itself Zionistic feeling may well
, aid the first settlers in overcoming the natural repug-
XXII
INTRODUCTION
nance of town-bred men to the toilsome work in the
fields. Recently an agricultural station has been
established mainly by American Jews in Haifa, Pales-
tine, under the direction of Mr. Aaronsohn, the dis-
coverer of “wild wheat.” The world-wide tendency
to make agriculture a branch of applied science is thus
made effective on the very spot where, it would seem,
agriculture first took its rise.
I have now discussed most of the points raised in the
following pages sufficiently to put the reader in a posi-
tion to appreciate their wide significance both for
Jews and others. It remains only to say a few words
of the man to whom we owe these suggestive pages.
Dr. Arthur Ruppin was bom on March ist, 1876, and
after studying law and economics entered the Prussian
State service. He has written upon the Theory of
Value, expounded by Thunen (1902), and on Dar-
winism and Sociology (1903), besides the present work,
which appeared in its first edition (1904), and in a second
form in 1911. He was the founder and first editor
of the Zeifschrift fuer juedische Statistik uni Demo-
graphie, of which eight volumes have already appeared.
He helped to found as well a Bureau of Jewish statistics,
which has issued a dozen valuable monographs ; so
that he writes on matters Jewish with the fullest
knowledge of aU the information that can be obtamed
in quantitative form. Dr. Ruppin has proved the
ardour of his convictions as a Zionist by taking up hfe
residence in Palestine for a number of years, and he
is thus in a specially favourable position to speak txf
the solution he proposes of the problem he has raised^
JOSEPH JACOBS.
CHAPTER L
REVIEW OF JEWISH ASSIMILATION-
HISTORICAL AND SOCIOLOGICAL.
A. The -process of disruption in the present day.
The structure of Judaism, once so solid, is crumbling
away before our very eyes. Conversion and inter-
marriage axe thinning the ranks of Jews in every
direction, and the loss is the heavier to bear, in that
the great decrease in the Jewish birth-rate makes it
more and more difficult to fill up the gaps in the natural
way. Until lately this breaking-up process was con-
fined to Central and Western Europe ; a few years ago
it was thought it could only gain ground there, and
that the six million Jews on the other side of the Vistula
would be untouched by it. Since then, however, a
revolution has taken place in Russia, and with it comes
the glaring revelation of the ardour with which
Russian Jew throws in his lot with that of the land of
his birth, and how readily the intellectual Jew, in pax-,'
ticular, sacrifices his Ju<^m to plunge headlong into-
the vortex of Russian life. Thus here, too, we see
disruption seizing on the great mass'of East European
Jews and threatening to undermine the last bulwark
of Judaism.
liMany circumstances conspire to forward the move-
ment. The progressive development of trade among
4 THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
Christians has deprived the Jews of any claim to a
special calling even in those branches of commerce
which used to be almost exclusively in their hands.
Similarly, as soon as Jews attend the same schools as
Christians — instead of exclusively Jewish ones, as
formerly — ^they tend to lose their specific culture. And
on the other hand, the growing disregard for any kind
of traditional religion, the supplanting of Yiddish
(Jargon) by Russian, German, and Enghsh, and the
immense enaigration from Eastern Europe to America
— all these have conspired to loosen the ties which for-
merly bound every individual Jew to his community.
So the gulf between Jew and Christian is bridged, and
it is difficult for Jews to resist going right over to
Christianity by the path of conversion and inter-
marriage,, thereby securing for themselves, or at least
for their children, aU the advantages which in every
country accompany conformity to the prevailing
religion.
B. The social life of the Jews before their emancipation.
In the seventeenth and the beginning of the
eighteenth centuries, no one could have conceived
such a development. The Jews were then shut in
their Ghettos, confined to a few mean and despic-
able trades, and far removed from Christian culture.
It seemed rmthinkable that they should step out of
their narrow circle, and work side by side with Chris-
tians for a common culture. The intellectual life of
the Jews was then limited to the study of the Bible and
Talmud. These studies, principally eacouraged in
the Talmudic schools in Poland, not primarily
directed to finding out the spirit these books. ?
They made of the text of the Bible a palaest:^
JEWISH ASSIMILATION
5
for interpretations which, though clever, were hair-
splitting and fantastic ; nor did the Talmud, upon
which they piled commentary upon commentary, and
supercommentaxy upon supercommentary, fare much
better. By the side of these flourished the “ Kabhala,”
which in its most important book, the Zohar professed
to have revealed the key to all wisdom, and to be able
thereby to dispense with aU other knowledge. The
innumerable ritual ceremonies were slavishly followed
and made the pivot of daily hfe. Nothing gives us a
clearer insight into the mental attitude of the Jews of
that period, than that event which moved the whole
of seventeenth century Jewry to its very depths — ^the
appearance of the Messiah, Sabbatai Zevi, and the sub-
sequent cult of Sabbataism in the eighteenth century
led by Nehemiah Chija Chajon and other less scrupulous
adventurers. On the same level was the quarrel
between Emden and Eybenschiitz in Hamburg (1750-
1756) — a quarrel which raised the passions of Jews all
over Europe to boiling point — ^raising the question
whether or not the life-saving amulets sold to mid-
wives by Rabbi Eybenschiitz contained the name
■ of Sabbatai Zevi in their formula. Such was the
intellectual standard of Jewry in the eighteenth
century.’'
C. The emanci-pation of the Jews.
• If we are to believe the statements made in several
Jewish histories, the revolution in the social and cul-
ture status of the Je'ws must be ascribed solely to thd
feet that Moses Mendelssohn happened to be bom in
of this quarrel appears m the Acts of the Hamburg
A^cMves under the title "Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft fiir
bk. xii p. 89 (Hamburg, 1903)*
6
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
1729, that he came to Berlin in 1743, that he there
became the friend of Lessing, translated the Bible into
German, and wrote a number of important philosophical
works.^ It need hardly be said that such a view
reveals a puerile attitude to history. The real cause
of the so-called emancipation of the Jews is not to be
found in the achievements of any single Jew, but in
the sudden change of outlook, social and economic,
which characterised the whole of the eighteenth
century.
The development of commerce and industry, which
then finally shook off the fetters of the mediaeval
corporations by taking on an individualist and capitalist
character, brought Christians and Jews into contact
with one another. Not-only were Jews and Christians
associated in great business enterprises, but the Jewish
profession of money-lending suddenly lost its unpleasant
savour. Whereas the Jew had formerly only been
able to sustain the credit of the consumer, and was
thus condemned to the calling of a usurer, he now
found himself in a position, by assisting the credit of
the producer , become a valuable aid to business men,
lit may be said at once that Mendelssohn’s contributions to
Jewish literature are surrounded by a halo which would surprise
none more than their modest author hinaself, were he here now to
witness it Mendelssohn, to whose mind and character all homage
is due, was nevertheless no great philosopher ; he walked in the
well-worn paths of Wolfi’s philosophy, and cannot be mentioned
in the same breath with Kant, much less compared to him. IJis
attitude to Judaism is anything but logical. His great achievement
.for Jewish emancipation was the translation of the Pentateuch,
'’which, by bringing German Jews into touch with the pure German
language, gave them access to German literature and culture.
But can this — 250 years after Luther — ^justify making a hero of ,
him ? Bemfeld was right (Jew$ and Judaism in ihs NinsUmJh •
Century, Berlin, 1898) in denouncing the exaggeration of Ifeieef;,^
Mendelssohn's hhare in the emancipation of the Tews. ■
JEWISH ASSIMILATION
7
and ^ promoter of industries which required his
capital.
The change in their economic condition had a
rapid effect on the social status of the Jews. The
French philosophers of the second half of the eighteenth
century, had proclaimed the equality .of men, and when
these ideas became embodied in laws, the yoke of the
Jews was correspondingly lightened. They gained at
once greater freedom for participation in commercial
life, and a rise of status ; and in proportion as
trade and industry took on greater importance in the
European States, and the citizen class ^adually sup-
planted the aristocratic, so the Jews advanced in the
social scale. Breach after breach was thus made in
that wall which separated Christian from Jew ; through
personal intercourse with Christians the way was
opened into the great Christian world of thought.
Jews began to read German and French books, etc.,
and their newly acquired culture influenced them so
strongly — ^in Germany and Western Europe, at least
— ^that in less than fifty years they completely
abandoned Yiddish (the so-caUed Jargon) in favour
of the pure language of the country, and approached
as nearly as possible to the Christians in dress alid
customs. From this to complete renunciation of
Judaism w^ but a step. At first, indeed, before
the final^, abandonment of Judaism, many attempts
'■were made to reconcile it with the Christian world
of thought. But this world of thought was that
of the ’ French and German freethinkers (Voltaire,
.Kolbach, Lamettrie, Diderot, Wolff, Lessing, Rei-
marus), which, with its championship of atheism
iSiid extreme materialism (in France), its glorification
of reascm, its demand for a rationalistic basis for
8
• THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
everything, its axdour for science, and its antagonism to
metaphysics and any positive re^pn, stopdj, in direct
opposition to the contemporary ‘spirit df Judaism.
Many a Jew must have been tom between conflicting
impulses in hours of doubt.
But from this impasse the Jewisfi** rdigion rarely
emerged triumphant ; according to the education and
character of each individual Jew, some gave it up
entirely in favour of the new knowledge, while others,
through a more or less contradictory compromise,
sought to bring it into outward harmony with prevail-
ing thought. Mendelssohn belonged to the latter
section. He adhered to the ceremonial law, and
though he admitted in his open letter to -Lavater that
" he found many accretions and abuses in Judaism
which obscured much of its lustre,” though he declared
emphatically ^ ” I recognise no other eternal trutpp
than those which cannot only be conceived by human
reason, but can be demonstrated a#l verified by human
experience ” ; nevertheless he i^mes finally tp a
glorification of the Jewish Law : ” What is ordained
by Divine Law cannot be set aside by the no less?
Divine Reason," * and he* eafis by the following appeal
to his co-religionists : “ We are allowed to meditat^i
on the Law, to fathom its spirit ; here and there to
assign a reason where no reason is g^ven by the L^m
giver for enactments made for a specific time a^j
place, and which different times and drcumstan®
necessitate changing — ^if it should please the greate^
Lawgiver to make His will known to us with the same
irrefutable truth and infallible directness, with no
room for the diadow of a doubt, as He revealed
^ Jerusalem, Complete Works, p, 236 (Vienna, •,
• Lee. cit. 285,
JEWISH ASSIMILATION . 9
Law itsdl to us. When this is not the case, when we
can point .to no,®;^ authority for setting aside the
Law, then' our pe:l^'t^ reasoning is not suSici^t to
release us from the'^^^d obedience the Law demands,
and the fear of God sets a boundary between specula-
tion and practice which no conscientious man may
override.” ^
It is not surprising that Bruno Bauer should ridicule ^
this parody of the sovereignty of Reason ; still less
surprising to find that such an illogical position could
nowhere find acceptance. Everyone knows that Men-
delssohn’s own children threw their father’s doctrines
to the winds, cut themselves free of aU the ordinances
of the Jewish religion, and finally became converts to
Christianity. In a letter from the famous etcher
Chodowiecki to the Countess von Solms-Laubach,®
dated December 12th, 1783, we read that the Jews of
Berlin are no longer concerned with any kind of ritual,
they buy and sell on Saturdays, eat all the forbidden
foo^, keep no fast days, etc. ; only the lower classes
(that is, those still untouched by German culture) are
stiU orthodox.
The theories of enlightenment, originally directed
against Christianity, proved to be much less destructive
of Christianity than of Judaism. The Christian, while
^teoretically convinced of the untruth of the Christian
Hemas, could stiH remain a Christian ; Christianity
M^osed no special mark of peculiarity upon h i m , he
^as to a certain extent Christian without knowing it ;
his Christianity did not disturb him. It was other-
wise with the Jew, the adherent of the religion of a
, * Loc. iit. 287.
*Die Judenfrage, p. 83 (Braunschweig, 1843).
* Eepjinted in Ost tmd West, December, 1903, p. 832.
10
mj£ JiiWS UJb' TO-DAY
minority. Every way he turned he was constantly
reminded of the exceptional position his religion placed
him in ; unlike the Christian he could not rid himself
of it by disregarding its dogmas and rites, to set him-
self absolutely free he had to perform an external act.
This act was conversion, and the cultured Jews of
Berlin were not slow in availing themselves of it to
its full extent.
D. The disintegration of Judaism by the adoption of
modern education.
Berlin was the centre of Jewish enlightenment, and
presented the most vivid spectacle of the loosening of
the bonds of Judaism; yet similar phenomena were
everywhere apparent, as the recognised social status
of ^e Jews improved, and they were able to take
advantage of Christian culture — ^that is to say, all over
Central and Western Europe. Hitherto a well-defined
nation, characterised by a specific language, religion,
education and customs, they now, by denuding them-
selves of all peculiarities, became completely denation-
alised. As in chemistry a compound is dissolved into
its elements under the influence of fermentation, and
these elements unite again in a new compound, so
modem culture, working on the old homogeneous
Ghetto-Judaism as a ferment, brought about denation-
alisation, which, beginning with the splitting up of
Judaism into several different grades of culture^
culminates in the union of the highest culture with
Christianity. The Jews did make some effort to stem
the stream; in Mendelssohn's time the orthodox
section were at great pains, to check the circulation of
his translation of the Pentateuch, to declare his
writings heretical, and to warn the Berlin community
JEWISH ASSIMILATION
II
of this dangerous spirit. When this failed, and clear-
sighted Jews realised that the cause of orthodox
Judaism was irreparably lost in Germany, they tried
to save what still remained, though with questionable
success, by reforming the service, making it more
up-to-date (in i8i8 the first Reform Synagogue was
opened in Hamburg, with an organ, a sermon in
German, and a revised Prayerbook), andbymodif37ing
the ritual. If Reform Judaism has proved a refuge
for many Jews who are deterred from baptism, for
many more it has proved but a halfway house from
Judaism to Christianity.
If we survey the whole of Jewry as it has emerged
from the last century-and-a-half of disintegration, we
can distmguish four classes :
I. First we have the great mass of Jews, hitherto,
or until very recently, untouched by modem culture,
and therefore on the same plane of thought as those we
have described as characteristic of the period of 1750.
To these belong the great majority of Jews in Russia
and Galicia, the native Jews of Morocco, Asia, and
European Turkey. They have their own colloquial
language called Yiddish or Jargon, or Spaniolisch. (a
corrupt Spanish) in .Turkey and North Africa, and
their literature is entirely written in this language and
in Hebrew. They keep themselves as a nation apart,
wear a peculiar costume (the Ashkenazim, in particular,
cultivating side-locks when not forbidden by law), live
for the most part under the old Jewish Law which is
expounded by their Rabbis; and disparaging pro-
fane learning, rely for their culture on ancient Jewish
literature, knowledge of which they acquire from their
•earliest childhood in the Cheders (religious elementary
Schools). They are for the most part small traders
12
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
(pedlars), artisans, and agents, and are miserably poor.
Their birth-rate is very high, families of ten children
or more being nothing unusual. Numerically this
class is still the biggest in Jewry ; about six millions,
that is, one half of the nation, belonging to it.
2. The second class has been influenced by modern
culture, and speaks the language of the country, and
sometimes Jargon as well. It has relinquished its
strange apparel (and also the side-locks), and dresses
in Christian manner. The Jewish ritual is adhered
to — modified in some cases, like that of the Sabbath
Laws, when their observance demands too great a
sacrifice : there is much less intolerance of all things
non- Jewish, imitation of Christian manners and interest
in non-Jewish literature being no longer denounced or
despised. The children attend Jewish elementary
schools by preference, and there receive elementary
secular education along with religious teaching. The
families are large, though not so large as those of the
fipcst class. The members of this second class have an
income just sufficient for their wants ; some are
moderately well-to-do. They include the Russian and
Galician Jews who have emigrated to England and
America, the Jews of Algiers and the Christian Balkan
States, the lower classes of the Jewish population of
Holland, and the Jews of the small towns of Austria
(always excepting Galicia), Hungary, Eastern Germany,
and Alsace Lorraine. Their totil may be rougiify
estimated at three millions.
3. The third class almost entirely ignores Jewish
ritual, particularly the observance of the Sabbath ;
speaks exclusively the language of the country, is
educated in the public schools, and no longer concerns
itself with Jewish literature. Its adherence to Judaism
JEWISH ASSIMILATION
13'
consists only in its members marrying within the faith,
the circumcision of the sons, and occasional attendance
at Synagogue (usually limited to two or three festival
days). This class, mostly business men who live in
comfortable circumstances and have small families,
includes the so-caUed Jewish bourgeoisie in Germany,
England, the Colonies, Italy, France, Holland,
America, and the large towns of Austria-Hungary
(again excluding Galicia). They number about two
millions.
4. The fourth class has completely broken away from
Judaism, and remains Jewish only because — either out
of conscientiousness' or a sense of honour, or out of
family and social considerations — ^it hesitates to take
the decisive step of marriage with Christians. Inter-
marriage and child-baptism are frequent — ^two children
in a family is the rule. To this class belong the rich
Jews of the large towns, and Jews of University
education aU the world over. They total about one
million.
We have roughly indicated four classes, and have
for easier reference, tabulated their chief characteristics
in an appended table. They must on no accotmt be
taken for definite, rigidly marked groups, but are
simply landmarks in an ever-flowing stream, which,
constantly replenished from the great reservoirs of
Jewish orthodoxy in Eastern Europe, finds a final
outlet in Christianity.
In proportion as the Jews become paietrated with
modem culture, so they become denationalised, and
orthodox Judaism (the first section) supplies the liberal
class (the second section), this the free-thinking (the
third section), and this again the Jews in name only
(the fourth section), until we are finally led up, through
14 THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
conversion and intermarriage, to the Christianised type
itself.
It is very rare indeed that a Jew belonging by
upbringing and education to the first or second sections
becomes baptised. A certain time must elapse before
he can throw off the influence of his orthodox-Jewish
milieu, and the altered conditions and impressions of
his later life do not, as a rule, outweigh the influence
of the orthodox Judaism of his youth. On the other
hand, we may quite well take the four sections as
representing four succeeding generations, though in
point of fact the distance between orthodoxy and con-
version is frequently covered in three and sometimes
two generations. We are four or five generations
removed from the times of Moses Mendelssohn. Of all
the Jews who lived at that time in Berlin, hardly one
has a Jewish descendant to-day ; they have all gone
over to Christianity. On the other hand, the rich
Jews of present-day Berlin — ^those whom we class
among the fourth section, and whose children are for
the most part baptised in their cradles, or likely to
become so later — are descendants of rigidly orthodox
Jews, who two or three generations back, left their
.small native towns in the East Prussian provinces or
just over the frontier, to emigrate to Berlin. To any-
one who has studied the conditions of Jews in the
laige European towns, this process is as familiar as it
is clear.
THE FOUR SECTIONS OF JEWRY.
JEWISH ASSIMILATION
15
i6
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
E. Analogous assimilative movemenls of the Jews in the
epochs of Greek and Arabic culture.
The breaking-up of Judaism, of which we of the
present day are witnesses, is by no means without
precedent in its history. On the contrary, we see the
very same thing happening on both the previous
occasions when Judaism came under the influence of
foreign culture — ^in the Greek period two centuries
before and one century after Christ ; and in the Arabic
period, from the eighth to the twelfth century a.d.
While the Jewish State was still in existence, the
great party of Sadducees — ^similar to the Reformers of
the nineteenth century — ^repudiated the “ tradition ”
{i.e. the endless number of ritual ceremonies) on
account of their Greek sympathies. Grecian gym-
nastics were practised in Jerusalem, and Jewish youths
were so ashamed of their nationality that they actually
submitted to a painful operation in order to remove
all traces of circumcision, so that they should not be
recognised as Jews in the Gymnasia. The Greek
language was substituted for Hebrew and Aramaic,
and Greek for Hebrew names. Philo, the leader of the
HeUenising party, wrote his books in Greek ; with the
aim of defending Judaism against the attacks of
paganism, he divested it of individuality and repre-
sented it as merely an oflshoot of Greek philosophy.
He thereby prepared the way for the triumphant pro-
gress of Christianity. The one million Jews who lived
in Egypt — ^the centre of Hellenic culture in the first
century, — ^became so utterly merged into Paganism and
Christianity that in the following century we hardly
hear of the existence of Jews in Egypt at all. It was
€^y in distant Babylon, whither a great portion oi
JEWISH ASSIMILATION
17
Palestine Jews had migrated, and where they main-
tained, through their separatist organisation as exiles,
a certain measure of autonomy, that the Jews dis-
played their " will to hve,” and, through the compila-
tion of the Talmud, raised the Law to its sovereign
authority.
Another wave passed over Jewry under the influence
of Arabic culture. In the eighth century there arose
the great party of Karaites — ^probably an off-shoot of
the Jewish-Arabian colony in Syria — ^who repudiated
the whole Talmud, of which the Jews were so proud,
and recognised no authority but that of the Bible. We
must not estimate the strength of the Karaites by their
miserable descendants of to-day. At the time of their
foundation they constituted a danger which threatened
the continued existence of Judaism, and were at least
the equals in strength of the Talmud Jews. Karaism
failed because it set up a new ritual of its own, prac-
tically a new Talmud, and thus nullified its very
raison d’Hre — antagonism to the superabundance of
ritual, and to the exclusiveness of Rabbinic Judaism.
The influence of a Mohammedan environment was no
less strong on the Jews of North Africa and Spain than
on those of Syria. Jewish literatmre, hitherto con-
cerned with the revision and interpretation of the
Talmud, took on an absolutely different character.
The famous Saadiah ben Joseph (892-942), the real
founder of Jewish philosophy, is far removed from
those who studied only the letter of the Law ; his
works ' form a philosophy of rdigion; he translated
thie Bible into Arabic, and set himself the task of
reconciling tradition with the demands of reason and
of altered social conditions, in a manner which is
strikingly similax to the work of Moses Mendelssohn,
: B
i8
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
nine centimes later. In the tenth century we find
Jews in North Africa and Spain criticising the Talmud,
the Bible, the doctrine of revealed religion, till we even
get Unbelief exalted into a principle — ^the last, cer-
tainly, under the influence of the Arabic philosophy of
the Mutazilites, then in vogue. Something of this new
spirit penetrated even into Babylon, where we have a
Gaon of the College of Sura, Samuel ben Chofni Hakohen
(960-1034) declaring “ That anything opposed to reason
need not be accepted.”
The great men of this period — a Salomon ibn Gebirol,
a Maimonides — are not Jewish in teaching, but draw
their wisdom from the newly discovered writings of
the Greek philosophers. Samuel David Luzzatto in
the nineteenth century had his reasons for calling the
doctrine of Maimonides im-Jewish, and the contem-
poraries of Maimonides in France and Germany, who
still held fast by the tradition, had reason also to be
horrified at this enlightened Spanish Jew who was so
loudly acclaimed. “ They dreaded the destructive
force of this foreign wisdom, and opposed it for hun-
dreds of years with increasing bitterness.” ^ But they
struggled in vain. Even if the Talmudists of other
countries were successful in enforcing their decree
that “ no Jew under thirty should read Maimonides,”
in Spain it was all over with the old Jewish tradition,
which, indeed, has never been able to recover lost
ground.
As soon as the Jews had laid hold of this culture —
this Arabdc-Spanish philosophy which was founded on
the Hellenistic — ^the way was clear to complete assimilar
tioa. Already under the rule, ctf 'Islam, conversion and
, ♦ *
* H. Braun, History of ths Jms and their Literature (Breslau,
1899).
JEWISH ASSIMILATION
19
intermarriage were of no rare occurrence, and when, in
the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, Christianity
triumphed in Spain, the Jews went over to it in
multitudes. The fact that in the year 1493, when
confronted with a choice between baptism and exile,
so many Jews chose exile, cannot be put down to
strength of any religious belief : under similar pressure,
the most enlightened Western Jews of to-day, who
have no sort of connection with Jewish religion as
such, would probably act in exactly the same way.
Just such ruthless measures were needed to stiffen the
backs of the vacillators ; and it is hardly too much to
say that the Jews in Spain would in a very short time
have been lost to Judaism if they had not been forced
back into it through persecution. These periods of
assimilation in Hellenistic and Moorish times are not
isolated phenomena ; they are but the visible culmina-
tion of a movement which has always undermined
Jewry in the Diaspora. Even in the times when the
Jews lived in their Ghettos under most terrible oppres-
sion, and were cut off as a community from all contact
with Christian culture, we see to our astonishment,
individual Jews (either baptised or very nearly so) in
the courts of princes and bishops in high positions, or
else like Spinoza, leading progressive thought. The.
yeUow badge which the Jews of the Middle Ages were
forced to wear, and which every Jewdsh history speaks
of as the greatest disgrace, was not introduced merely as
a badge of dishonour ; it was designed rather to make
it impossible for Jews to mix unrecognised with
Christians, and to deport themselves as Christians. It
shows us that even in the time of their greatest degrada-
tion i^aijy Jews sought ‘to fuse themselves with the
jChristja^l^^jority. We may read Jewish history in
20
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
the Diaspora as one long battle between, on the one
hand, the ideals of .isolation and race purity, implanted
into the Jewish people by Ezra and Nehemiah, and
ever since the corner-stone of their religion ; and on the
other, the tendency to assimilate ; and we shall find
it a useful clue to the right understanding of that
history. So long as the Jews live together, as in
Babylon, in a large compact body with a higher state
of culture than the surrounding non- Jewish majority,
assimilation is nothing more than a tiny stream which
draws few into its current ; but this stream becomes
a torrent, canying everything before it as soon as
the culture of the non- Jewish majority is raised, and
the Jews are scattered in small groups among thal^
majority without having to struggle for their daily
bread.
How great the losses suffered by Judaism through
assimilation have been, may be appreciated by the
fact that the Jews number to-day only twelve million
souls, while in the first century a.d. they numbered
five million. Even allowing for the thousands and
tens of thousands who succumbed to persecution,
Judaism to-day should be stronger than it is by
millions and tens of millions, were it not for the con- .
tinuous secession to Christianity.^
F. The assimUation of minor nationalities — a common
social ■phenomenon.
The similarity between the assiroiilative movements
of Greek and Moorish times and that of our own day
^ It is generally admitted that bnt for the secession of thousands
of its sons in every generation to Christianity, Judaism would
number 4 or 5, perhaps even 10 times the total of its adherents/'
Leroy-Beaulieu, Jews and AnU-SendUsm*
JEWISH ASSIMILATION
21
is obvious. By comparing the three epochs we shall
arrive at an understanding of their common causes and
effects, and shall be able to deduce a general principle
in Jewish assimilation. This principle lays down that
the rate of assimilation is higher —
(a) The smaller the percentage of Jews in compari-
son with the non- Jewish population of their immediate
environment.
(b) The livelier the economic intercourse between
Jew and non-Jew.
(c) The higher the standard of non-Jewish culture.
(d) The greater the wealth of the Jews.
This is incontestably established by historical
ffacts ; and the causes are not far to seek. They are
'the same causes which everywhere bring about the
same result : namely, that minor nationalities — ^unless
they come like the Manchus in China, as conquerors,
and retain their power as ruling caste by military
prowess and organisation — ^tend always to gravitate
towards the national majority.
Man is a social animal ; to satisfy his needs he must
come into touch with his feUow-man, and thus set up
any number of new relations wiA them. In the first
place, there are economic relations : they are the most
important and far-reaching, since everyone is subject
to them in order to secure, by means of exchange, those
necessaries of life which he cannot produce. In a
peaceful community, where the Law of Might holds
no sway, the better a man gets on with his fellows the
more li^ly he is to achieve his aim, the satisfaction
of his ii^ediate wants. To this end he requires not
•wfiy a common language, but capacity to observe and
CT:ter into the life of others. Classes whose calling
predhides thsm from actually producing any of the
22
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
necessaries of life, who rely on exchange in order to
earn their daily bread, and have to seek customers for
their wares, these classes are most hable to be assimi-
lated. They are for the most part merchants and
business men. The peasant is, in comparison, far
more independent ; he is able, especially in the early
stages of development, to provide for himself, to
satisfy the needs of his household by the work of his
hands. We see the Germans in the United States
being assimilated very quickly, whereas in Brazil,
Transylvania and Russia, the process is very slow’; this
must be put down not so much to the higher state of
culture in the United States, as to the fact that whereas*
the Germans there are merchants and business men,
in Brazil, Transylvania and Russia they are peasants
and husbandmen. For similar reasons, the Jewish
pedlar or artisan who emigrates from Eastern Europe
to Germany or America is not only forced to give up
Jargon and adopt the German or English language, he
must also adapt himself to the manners and customs of
has new country. In the early stages this is confined
to imitation of outward forms of intercourse, deport-
ment, dress, etc., whereas at a more advanced stage
it becomes complete identification with the German or
American outlook, habits and culture.
In the Middle Ages, so long as the Jews were econo-
mically in touch with the Christians as merchants and
bankers, they spoke the language of their surroundings
and dressed like Christians. It was only when they
were excluded from the larger spheres of commerq^,
their activity confined to pawnbroking and pedfflioi|~-
the inevitable outcome of their is(fiatidn in the Gh^t^
and the simultaneous growth and spread of the power,
of the Catholic Church^ — ^that their intercourse wi&^-
JEWISH ASSIMILATION
23
Christians was reduced to a minimum, and that they
ceased to come into contact with Christian culture and
activity. It was the Ghettos that created the spirit
of stagnation in Judaism, the spirit that persisted in
carrying the language and costume of the fourteenth
century into the eighteenth. With the re-entry of the
Jews into the economic life of recent times, this stagna-
tion has disappeared. Assimilation set in at once, and
brought about those rapid changes which at one
stroke, transformed the Jews of what we have called
the first class into those of the second, or even the
third.
Equal in importance to the economic are the social
relations, which satisfy man's need of friendly com-
munion, by the exchange of mutual experiences in the
realms of affairs and of thought, and by the fostering
of common ethical, artistic and scienthic aspirations.
Into these circles the individual finds his way, not
only by sharing the common language, costume and
manners, but by proving himself worthy in culture
and knowledge to come among them. He will there-
fore have to exert himself to acquire that culture,
and thus to attain to a standard precisely equal to
that of his associates. This is how our Jews of the
second section pass over into the third section, and —
generally a generation later— into the fourth. The
tendency is intensified by the struggle for social status,
which lays hold of men as soon as they no longer have
any need to struggle for mere existence. We see this
most plainly in the prevalence of fashion in dress,
which is simply due to the fact that the lower classes
‘do not want to be outdone by the upper, and strive,
^ a beginning, to appear their equals in visible outward
■jterga sudh as dress. With the proletariat, which
24
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
still has to battle for daily bread, the fight for social
status is not yet developed; it grows in intensity as
the struggle for gain decreases after achieving its aim ;
and it is typical of a class which has risen to wealth
and culture from the most abject poverty. The Jews
of Western Europe are just such a class : their success
in business and in letters tempts them to seek position
and social status among the rich bourgeoisie and in
the scholastic world, and yet as Jews they are looked
askance upon, and their efforts are frustrated. Con-
fronted with this situation, many make conversion a
means of wiping out their last distinctive mark, hoping
thereby to secure, and often actually securing, admis-
sion as equals to circles hitherto rigidly closed.
These are the causes which lead the Jews — a small
minority in every country — ^to adopt the language,
the costume, the habits, culture and finally the
religion of their .non- Jewish surroimdings, a compli-
cation of phenomena which we call the process of
assimilation.
G. Reasons for the fower. of resistance to assimilation
shown by the Jews hitherto.
It is certainly remarkable that, in spite of the ten-
dency to assimilation, there still remain, after eighteen
centuries a goodly number of Jews ; that Judaism
has after aU survived its most critical periods, the epochs
of Greek and Arabic culture. In our opinion there
are three causes which have enabled the Jews to hold
fast to the doctrine of isolation and exclusiveness
established by Ezra and Nehemiah, and so prevented
them from being absorbed by other nations.
{a) Even before the destruction of their State, the
Jews of Egypt, Syria and other .parts of the Koman
JEWISH ASSIMILATION
25
Empire, wer^ principally engaged in trade and com-
merce, and according to Sombart,'- developed money-
lending into a fine art. With the migration of the
nations they found themselves among peoples in the
most primitive stages of domestic economy. Upon
these the Jews, with their habits of trafficking and
storing up wealth, produced an effect as foreign and
uncanny as the nomad Gypsies of to-day on the
settled population — ^be it noted that the G37psies, hke
the Jews, have also hitherto defied assimilation. The
Jews had nothing to do with the industrial constitu-
tion of the Christian majority, which rested on agri-
culture and the manorial organisation ; and the latter
beiug based on a traditional grouping of societies
founded on blood-relationship, the foreign Jew could
never become a member. As the ruling organisa-
tions were built on the foundations of these ancient
co-operative tmions, it follows that neither do we
find a single Jew exercising any such function.® Simi-
larly the Jews were excluded from the guilds and
corporations into which commerce and handicrafts
were organised in the Middle Ages, whose object was
elimination of all competition, with a view to increasing
the prosperity of the guilds. Sombart has pointed out
that the Jews were forced to be in constant conflict
with these guilds and with the principle on which
they .were based, in order to gain a livelihood.
On the other hand, their monopoly of the business
of jnoney-lendifig prevented them to a certain extent
from becoming dependent upon Christian custom,
and indeed had rather the opposite effect. These
Juden^imd das Wirtschafisleben (Leipzig, 1911).
^ ^ bis Natimcdit&tenffage und die Sozialdemokvatie^ p. 367
26
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
economic and professional divergences prevented Jews
and Christians from ever entering into intimate
relations with one another. The only exceptions
were in those parts of the Roman Empire, such as
Southern Italy and Egypt, which were not affected
by the migrations to the extent of losing all their
former culture and the system of finance established
under the old Roman regime. Here the Jews were
never so rigidly excluded as in Central Europe ;
in consequence they succumbed to assimilation in
masses.
{b) The second cause for the survival of Judaism
is, that in both periods, just when their extinction,
seemed imminent, great numbers of Jews were forced
out of those countries where the state of culture was
high, and had to take refuge in lands in k lower state
of civilisation, where assimilation offered no attraction.
The first time they were driven from Palestine and
S5?ria to Babylon; the second time, from Spain and
France to Poland and Turkey. But for these happy
chances there would in all likelihood be no such thing
as Judaism to-day.
(c) The great natural prolificness of the Jewish race
— a. result of the careful nurture of the children —
enabled the Jews to make good the losses caused by
conversion. If only a remnant withstood assimila-
tion, in a relatively short time a new Jewry was bom
from it.
H. The collapse of the obstructions to assimilaiion ani
consequent breaking-up of Jewry.
What can we prognosticate for Jewry in the present
period of assimilation? Will a remnant stiU remain,
to carry on Judaism even if the masses fall away?
JEWISH ASSIMILATION
27
Or is the danger from assimilation already so great as
to give us cause to contemplate seriously a total
merging of the Jews into Christendom ? Most emphati-
cally it is. The economic system of capitalistic
finance — the monopoly of the Jews of the Middle Ages
— ^has now become the common property of the whole
world. Any vestige that may still remain of the old
guild and corporation system is foredoomed to extinc-
tion, and is disappearing before our eyes. With it
disappears the distinctive economic status which
formerly stigmatised Jews and prevented assimilation.
And the other factors which contributed to the pre-
servation of the Jews exist no longer either. Whereas
formerly the Jews migrated under stress of persecution
from countries of a high to those of a lower culture —
the persecutions thus actually helping to preserve
Judaism— nowadays oppression drives the Jews from
coimtries on a lower plane of civilisation to those on
a higher — ^from dark, unenlightened Eastern Europe
to progressive Western Europe and America, and
thereby the danger of assimilation is enormously
increased. Lastly, the natural prolificness of the Jews
has lately suffered a relapse, and in many countries
their fertility is less than that of Christians. So the
way is clear to assimilation. It goes without , saying
that there can be no question of the Jews disappearing
from off the face of the globe in a few decades. A
people numbering some twelve miUion souls cannot be
wiped out so quickly as aU that. It may be a hundred
years and more before the last Jew is absorbed — ^the
actual time is a minor detail.
: .:What we are concerned to know is, whether the causes
&M^ .hme Mtherfo preserved the Jews as a separate com-
hdd good for the fuiure and protect them
28
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
from total assimilaiion. If the answer is in the negative,
the fate of the Jews is sealed. Just as a tree whose
roots are rotten will yet stand a long time though
fatally diseased, so also the Jews can go on existing for
some time to come; hut as a community they will
decline and not advance. It is false optimism to
make light of this crisis, and say that because Judaism
has endured for two thousand years m the face of the
greatest dangers and hardships, that therefore it is
proof against all happenings. The past can prove
nothing for the present, because present-day condi-
tions are totally different from what they have ever
been before. And besides this, do we not know that
in the past the Jewish population of whole countries
did become absorbed? We have already spoken of
the Jews in Egypt. In China too, where two centuries
ago numbers of Jews were settled, there is no longer
any trace of them. Where are the great Jewish
communities which flourished in Greece and Sicily in
the Middle Ages ? Jewish historians unfortimately
pay far too much attention to outstanding events and
to persecutions ; the undermining of Judaism by
assimilation, a more difficult but far more important
side of the question, still awaits a-historian.
The danger with which modem asamilation threatens
Judaism has only just begun to be appreciated, because
hitherto its last results — conversion and intermarriage
— ^were confined to certain countries. They were
looked upon as signs of temporary weakness. But
now that we see the same thing repeating itself in
every country, it is dear that we have to do here
with a universal phenomenon, the inevitable result
of assimilation. We see in the assimilative movement
the greatest danger that has assailed Judaism since
JEWISH ASSIMILATION 29
the Dispersion. It is the purpose of this book to
discuss to what extent Jews are already assimilated,
and what is to be expected in the way of
future development — ^more especially from the Jewish
national movement, the outcome of reaction against
assimilation.
CHAPTER II.
THE NUMERICAL STRENGTH OF THE JEWS.
A. Survey of the number of Jews since the Dispersion.
To estimate correctly the number of Jews in the
various centuries we must begin by ignoring the
mythical numbers given in the Pentateuch (Ex. xii. 37,
Numbers i.-iii.). The first approximately reliable
estimate is found in the Book of Ezra ii. 64, where the
number of Jews who returned from the Babylonian
exile imder Zerubabel is given as 42,360. To these
we must add those who stayed behind in Babylon, as
well as those who were settled in Phoenicia and Egypt ;
nor must we forget that quite a considerable number
of Jews had not been led away captive into Babylon
after the destruction of the first Temple, but had
been left behind in Palestine. With aU these addi-
tions, the Jews, about 500 b.c. could not have
numbered much above 100,000. They had increased
enormously by the time of the destruction of the
second Temple (70 a.d.). Though Josephus^ prob-
ably exaggerates grossly in putting the number of
Jews besieged in Jerusalem at 1,100,000, and again in
stating that in the time of Nero 2,700,000 Jews were
gathered together in Jerusalem to celebrate the pass-
over ; yet we have Tacitus * estimating the population
of Jerusalem shortly before the destruction, at 600,000.
1 Wars of the Jews, vi. 9. * Historiae, v. 13*
NUMERICAL STRENGTH OF THE JEWS 31
At that time, however, the major portion of the Jews
lived outside Palestine, for since the time of Alexander
the Great, masses of them had gone to settle in the
lands on the coasts of the Mediterranean. According
to Philo’s estimate,’- which is accepted by Mommsen,
the Jews contributed one million to a population of
eight millions in Egypt. Of these, 200,000 lived in
Alexandria alone, the total population of which was
only 500,000. Of the seven million inhabitants of
Syria in the time of Nero, more than one million,
according to Beloch,® were Jews. Josephus teUs
us there was no people in the civilised world with-
out settlements of Jews, and this statement is borne
out by other writers, m particular Strabo and Seneca.
Estimating the number of Jews in Palestine at the
beginning of the Christian era at 700,000 (Hamack®)
and those in other coxmtries (excluding Egypt and
Syria) at one and a half millions, we have a total of
about 4j million Jews living within the Roman Empire.
As, according to Beloch, the total population of the
Roman Empire at that time was 54 millions, the Jews
constituted one-twelfth of the entire population, and
it is this extraordinarily high percentage which
explains the important rdle they played at that period.
With the Dispersion we lose all accurate records of
their numbers. It is probable that up to the four-
teenth century, owing to continual conversions' to
Christianity and Islam, their numbers did not increase,
though they did not pejceptjbly decrease. But with
the fourteenth century there begins a period of great
losses to Judaism, due partly to voluntary conversions,
^ ]m Flaccum, vi.
^ IMfi Fev^herung der griech,-rdf)u Welt, p. 248 (Leipzig, 1886).
^ The Missiofi md Spread of ChrisHanity in the first three Centimes,
32
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
partly to oppression and persecution, which in many
cases ended in wholesale conversions or wholesale
massacres. In either case the consequent deteriora-
tion and unsettled nature of the Jews’ social position
produced a much higher death-rate, particularly of
children. Between the years 1290-1474 the Jewish
population in the kingdom of Castile decreased from
850,000 to 150,000 — a fact attributable for the most
part to conversions to Christianity, which have left
their mark to the present day in the numerous markedly
Jewish types still found in Spain. Italy throughout
the Middle Ages possessed large and flourishing Jewish
communities ; one would expect to find hundreds of
thousands of Jews in Italy to-day, instead of which
there are oiily 35,000, and we have no record of great
persecutions or emigration. The only reason we can
assign is gradual absorption. The period of the Thirty
Years’ War marks the time when Judaism had reached
its lowest ebb ; in the decade between 1648-1658 a
quarter of a million Jews perished in Poland alone
during the Cossack rising under Chmielnicki, while
the Western nations of Europe, with the exception of
Holland and Italy, admitted no Jews at all. The
kmgdoms of Poland, Austria-Hungary and the Balkans
were the only countries in which large numbers of Jews
were to be found. In the German Empire, according
to Graetz,^ there were not more than three or four
considerable Jewish communities — Frankfurt-am-Main
with 2,000, Worms with 1,400, Prague with 10,000,
Vienna with 3,000 Jews. It is doubtful whether the
total number of Jews in the world at that time amounted
to one million.
How greatly the Jews suffered during that time of
^ History of the Jews.
NtJMERICAL STRENGTH OF THE JEWS 33
persecution is best appreciated by the enormous
rapidity with which they increased during the two
succeeding centuries, when the fury of persecution and
enforced baptism had somewhat abated, and their
safety was more assured. In the year 1772 the total
Jewish population of Poland and Lithuania is calcu-
lated at 308,500 souls, while a Polish writer estimates
them at 450,000 at the beginning of the nineteenth
century.^ In 1856 in Russian- Poland alone, there w'ere
563,000 ® and in 1897 1,321,100 Jews.
In Galicia the census of 1785 gave 212,002 Jews,
that of 1857, 448,973, that of 1900, 811,371. In
Moravia and Austrian Silesia we have in 1775, 23,382,
in 1830, 32,244, in 1850, 40,681, and in 1900, 56,243
Jews. European Russia (without Poland) possessed, in
the year 1838, 1,023,543 Jews agamst 3,789,448 in 1897.
Prussia had in 1816, 123,921, in 1843, 206,529, in
1858, 242,416, and in 1905, 409,501 Jews.
These numbers show that in all these countries the
Jewish population has trebled itself in about one
hundred years, and they give some idea of the enormous
number of Jews there would be in the world to-day but
for the assimilation and persecution of over sixteen
centuries. The Jewish population m the Diaspora may
be divided into a descending and ascending curve.
The descent took place durii^ the sixteen centuries
following the loss of their territory, during which time
they decreased in numbers from 'five millions to one
minion ; the ascent began in the seventeaith century ;
in the eighteenth their numbers had increased to three
f * T. Czacld Rozprawa o Zydaoh. Wilaa, 1807; quoted from Leroy-
BeauBeu, The Jeuts and Anti-semtism.
*We^perow, “Die Juden im Kdnigreicli Polen” in Judische
Sia^^kt^, yai, L p. 295 (Berlin, 1903).
c
34
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
millions, while at the present day they number over
twelve millions. There is not the slightest doubt that
the numerical strength of the Jews to-day is far greater
than it has ever been at any other period of their
history. But, on the other hand, the dangers which
threaten their existence are also greater than they
have ever been. The climax we have reached in
numbers — ^which places the Jews numerically higher
than the Greeks, the Roumanians and Bulgarians, and
only slightly behind the Poles — ^is due to three causes :
first, that the Jews of the eighteenth and the greater
part of the nineteenth century have shmmed baptism
and intermarriage; secondly, their death-rate has been a
low one ; thirdly, contrary to modem civilised practice,
they indulge in very large families. The decline of
this spirit must inevitably lead to another descent.
B. Lost “ Branches ” of Judaism.
For the most part, those Jews who have cut them-
selves off from Judaism by assimilation and baptism
have mixed with their non-Jewish environment and
become absorbed into it. Still there are cases where
whole groups abandoned Judaism together, yet pre-
served the consciousness of their formfl* attachment to
Judaism for a long period of timej~ahd married only
among themselves. The best-known examples of this
&e the Jews of Spain known as Marranos. Forced
into baptism in the fifteenth century, they main-
tained for more than two hundred years, a separate
existence, which endured tiU the eighteenth century.
The last remnant of them has survived in the Balearic
Islands, where about 6,000 of them are known imder
the name of Chuetas or Anussim. In religion they
are Christian, but they are conscious of their Jewi^
NUMERICAL STRENGTH OF THE JEWS 35
origin and marry mostly among themselves. Much
the same thing may be said of the Maimins or
Donmes of Salonica, a sect called into being by
Sabbatai Zevi, and numbering some 4,000 souls, who
are Mahonunedan by rehgion, and the Gdid al Iriam
in Khorassan, some 2,000. And with these we must
mention the 200 Samaritans — ^the remnant of the once
great sect of Samaritans at Nablous (Shechem).
Whereas the above-mentioned groups are all Jews not
by faith but by origin, there are on the other hand
Jewish proselytes, that is, Jews by faith but not by
race. Jacobs^ reckons the following as such:
50.000 Falaschas in Abyssinia.®
20.000 Karaites in the Crimea and in Turkey.®
10.000 Daggatuns in the Sahara.
6,500 Beni Israel in Bombay.
1,000 Black Jews in Cochin.
As regards the Karaites, it is open to question
whether, in spite of an influx of Tartar blood, they
1 '' On the Racial Characteristic of Modern Jews,” in the Journal
of the Anthropological Institute.
* The numbers of the Falaschas are variously given. Faitlowitch,
who visited them in 1904, estimates them at 50,000 {Notes d*un
voyage chee les Falaschas, Paris, 1905) ; Haim Hahoum, sent by
the Alliance Israelite XJniverselle in 1908 to Abyssinia, at only 7,000.
» The Karaites in Russia in 1897 numbered 12,894. Their cei^gS^
was the Crimea with 6,166 Karaites. Outside Russia there are
still Karaites in Turkey and in small scattered communities in
Galicia, for instance in the town of Kalicz. We might mention here
as a curious fact the hundred or so individuals, who, Magyar by
race, and belonging to the Christian sect of Sabbatarians, embraced
Judaism in the year r 863 , and n^w live in the village of Bozdd
Ujfalu bei Schassburg in Transylvania. Again, there is in Russia
a sect called Sabbotniki, the members of which live according to
famish law, some of whom have emigrated to Palestine, where they
live in the Jewish colonies under the name of ” Gerim.”
36
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
did not originally come from Jewish stock. Many
look upon them, indeed, as descendants of the Chazars
who all embraced Judaism ; while there is ground for
believing that they are descended from the Syrian Jews
who belonged to the Karaite sect. All the other
Jewish proselytes, as has been ascertained from their
anthropological characteristics, are certainly not of
Jewish descent. The Falaschas are probably nearer in
origin to the Abyssinians, the black Jews of Cochin
and the Beni Israel of Bombay to the Indians, the
Daggatuns to the Arabs.
In the foUowing survey of the numbers of the Jews
in each separate country, none of these side branches
have been taken into account. Only those have been
counted as Jews who belong both by religion and by
descent to the Jewish race — ^that is to say, those who can
trace themselves back with more or less purity of blood
to the Jews of the time of the downfall of the Jewish
State, when that State was their national centre.
C. The existing numbers of Jews, and the spread of
Jewry.
It is only in the last few years that we have had
an5rthmg Kke accurate calculations of the numerical
strength of the Jews all over the world, namely,
since the Russian census of 1897 gave the number of
Jews living in European and Asiatic Russia at
5,215,805. Tin that time, estimates of the strength of
Russian Jewry had varied to an extraordinary degree.
Most statisticians and geographists estimated from
two to three million Jews to be in Russia, so that until
ktdy the total number of Jews was given variously at
six to eight millions, whereas in reality it. reaches
to-day practically twelve millions.
NUMERICAL STRENGTH OF THE JEWS 37
In the synopsis which follows we have put together
from the best available sources the correct figures for
Jews in every country. Only in very few cases have
we been compelled to give our own estimate. Accuracy
is not possible, in the first place, because many countries
— ^for lack of a census — can only give us approxima-
tions,^ in the second place, because the latest census was
taken in different years in the various cormtries. More-
over, the Jews have migrated so much in recent years
that many changes would already have to be made in
the latest censuses. We should not lay too much
stress on this, however, because we may take it that
the countries from which the Jews emigrate in the
greatest numbers — Russia, Galicia, and Roumania —
soon make good their loss, thanks to the great
fertility of the Jews, so that the number of Jews there
to-day is practically what it was at the time of the
last census. The countries into which there is most
immigration (England, South Africa, Canada and the
United States of America) furnish us with quite recent
statistics, which we use in the synopsis.
According to our table, out of a world-total of
ii;558,6io Jews, 8,854,037, i.e. 76.6 per cent., live in
Europe, and of these 5,110,548, i,e. 44.2 per cent., in
^ la Europe, Englaad, France, and Turkey, besides some smaller
states, make no record of religion in their census. In America,
Africa, and Asia censuses of very few states are available. It is
only in Australia that they are complete. For the Oriental coun-
tries an inquiry instituted by the Alliance Israelite Universelle in
1904 — ^the results of which were published in the Bulletin of ike
All. Is. Vniv. II. Series, No. 29 (Paris, 1905) — ^has been invaluable
to us. For America, Asia, and Aifrica — ^whenever official or special
calculations were not forthcoming — we have followed the figures
The Statesman's Year Booh (1908), The English Jewish Year
BocA* (t&09), and The American Jewish Year Booh, $66^ (Phila-
38 THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
Russia alone ; 1,898,000, i.e. 16.4 per cent., live in
America. This marks an extremely important change
of locality for the Jewish people, when we consider
that fifty years ago there were only about 50,000, and
twenty-five years ago only 230,000 {i.e. 2.5 per cent, of
the total number) in America. Asia has 427,523 {i.e.
3.7 per cent.) ; Africa, 361,857 {i.e. 3.1 per cent.) ;
and Australia, 17,106 {i.e. 0.2 per cent.) of the total
number.
AMOUNT AND DENSITY OF THE JEWISH POPULA-
TION OF THE WHOLE WORLD.
Country.
Year.
Actual
Figures.
To every
10,000 of
General
Population.
Source of
Information.
I. EUROPE.
Russia (Pales of
Settlement out-
side Poland) 15
Government Pro-
vinces,
1897
3,578,227
II 2
Census 1897
2. Poland, -
1897
1,321,100
1405
.. 1897 >
3. Baltic Provinces
(Courland, Liv-
onia, St. Peters-
burg), -
1897
101,875
249
>. ^897
4. Rest of Euro-
pean Russia,
1897
109,346
19
.. 1897
Austria —
Galicia,
1900
5,110,548
811,371
497
1109
.. 1897
,, igoo
Lower Austria
(including Vi-
enna), -
1900
157,278
507
,, 1900
Bukovina, -
1900
96,150
13x7
,, xgoo
Bokemia, -
1900
92,745
X 47
X900
Moravia^ -
1900
44.255
182
„ 1900
Silesia in Austria,
1900
11,988
176
„ 1900
Rest of Austria, -
1900
11,112
20
1,224,899
468
„ 19^
NUMERICAL STRENGTH OF THE JEWS 39
AMOUNT AND DENSITY OF THE JEWISH POPULATION
OF THE WHOLE WORLD—
Country.
Year.
Actual
Figures.
To every
10,000 of
General
Population.
Source of
Information.
Hungary,
Germany —
1900
851.378
442.
Census 1900
Prussia,
1905
409.501
no
.. 1905
Bavaria, -
1905
55 » 34 i
85
1905
Alsace-Lorraine,
1905
31.708
175
» 1905
Baden,
1905
25.893
129
1905
Hesse,
1905
24,696
204
M 1905
Hamburg, -
1905
19,602
224
„ 1905
Saxony,
1905
14.697
32
.. 1905
Wurtemberg,
1905
12.053
52
.. 1905
Rest of Germany,
1905
14.371
607,862
35
100
.. 1905
.. 1905
Roumania, -
Great Britain (Ire-
1899
266,652
448
.. 1899
land excepted), -
1905
250,000
65
S. Rosenbaum,
Journal for Sta-
tistics of the
Jews, 1906, p.
123.
European Turkey, -
1904
188,896
320
Calculated by
All, Isr, Uni,
iThe Netherlands, -
1899
103,988
204
Census 1899
France, - - -
1905
1
100,000
25
Our own cal-
culation
Bulgaria (including
! Census 1905
East Roumelia),-
1905
37.653
93
Italy, - - -
1901
35.617
II
S „ 1901
Belgium,
1905
25,000
22
Our own cal-
culation
Switzerland, -
Bosnia and Herze-
1900
12.551
38
Census 1900
govina,
1S95
8,213
52
.. 1895
Greece, -
1907
6,127
24
.. 1907
Servia, - - -
1900
5.729
23
„ 1900
S^fedesn,-
1 900
3,912
7
„ 1900
Ij^land,- ^ -
1901
3.898
9
„ 1901
40 THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
AMOUNT AND DENSITY OF THE JEWISH POPULATION
OF THE WHOLE WOKLD^Continued.
To every
Country.
Year.
Actual
Figures.
10,000 of
General
Source of
Information.
Population.
Denmark,
1901
3.476
14
Census 1901
Spain, - - -
Gibraltar,
1905
1908
2,500
1,300
I
?
\Eng, Jew. Year
J Book 1909
Luxemberg, -
1905
1,210
49
Census 1905
Portugal,
1908
1,200
2
Engl. Jewish
Year Book jgo^
Crete, - - -
1900
728
24
Census 1900
Norway,
1900
642
3
„ 1900
Malta, - - -
1901
58
3
„ 1901
Total (approx.), -
8,854.037
II. AMERICA.
United States,^
1907
1,777.185
210
American Jew-
ishYearBook
r, 5669
Canada,-
1908
60,000
II2
English Jewish
Argentina, -
1 Year Booh
1909
1907
40,000
70
Reffort of the
Jew. Col.
Assoc. 1907 ^
Mexico, - - -
1895
8,972
7
Census 1895
Cuba, - - -
1895
4,000
20
' American Jew-
Brazil, - - -
1895
3»ooo
2
- ish Year
Jamaica,
1908
1,300
16
Book 5669
Surinam,
Curacao,
1902
1,158
150
Statesman's
1902
863
161
Year Book
Peru, - - -
1876
498
2
. 1908
Venezuela, -
1908
411
2
American Jew-
Rest of Central and
• ish Year
Southern America,
1908
700
?
Book 5669
Total (approx.), -
1,898,087
1 Of the Jews of the United States about one million live in the
State of ‘New York, about 100,000 in the States of Illinois, Penn-
sylvania and Massachusetts, the remainder in the other States ; of
these about 200,000 in the Northern States, 150,000 in the Southern
States, 50,000 in the Western States.
NUMERICAL STRENGTH OF THE JEWS 41
AMOUNT AND DENSITY OF THE JEWISH POPULATION
OF THE WHOLE VJOm.'D^Continued.
' Country.
Year.
Actual
Figures.
To every
10,000 of
General
Population.
Source of
Information.
III. ASIA.
Turkey in Asia — ^
Palestine, -
Asia Minor and
Syria, -
Mesopotamia, -
Arabia (including
Aden), -
1908
1908
1908
1908
85.000 I
75*000
40.000
40,000
1400
55
?
?
Our own calcu-
lation
»» »»
ti ft
240,000
Russia in Asia —
Caucasus, -
Siberia,
Central Asia,
1897
1897
1897
56,783
34»792
13,682 1
II
60
18
Cen^s 1897
*. 1897
1897
105*257
46
„ 1897
Persia, - - -
1908
35*000
37
i
Statesman's
Year Book
1908
Turkestan and Af-
ghanistan, -
India, -
1908
1901
18,435
18,226
?
I
Jew. Year
Book 1909
Census 1901
Dutch East India —
Java and other
colonies, -
China and Japan, -
1905
1908
8,605
2,000
2
0.04
Census 1905
Jew. Year Book
1909
Total (approx.), -
427*523
^ For Turkey in Asia (not including Arabia) the Alliance calcu-
lates a total of 220,484 Jews, which concurs approximately with
Vital Cuinet's estimate of the number of Jews in Turkey in Asia
(not including Arabia) as 201,998 Jews in his Book La Turquie
d^^Asia (Palis, 1892, 1906).
42 THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
AMOUNT AND DENSITY OF THE JEWISH POPULATION
OF THE WHOLE '^O'RLD— Continued.
Country.
Year.
Actual
Figures.
To every
10,000 of
General
Population.
Source of
Information.
IV. AFRICA.
1
Morocco,
1908
150,000
300
Jew. Year Booh
1909
Algiers, -
1901
57»044
120
Census 1901
Tunis, -
1908
62,500
310
Jaques Chalom
1909 (Welt
of 19. II, 09)
Transvaal, -
1904
15.481
II5
Census 1904
Cape Colony,
1904
19.537
80
» 1904
Egypt -
1907
38,635
34
» 1907
Allimce Isr.
Univ.
Tripoli, - - -
Total (approx.), -
1905
18,660
361.857
186
V. AUSTRALIA.
Australia,
15.239
40
Census 1901
New Zealand,
1,867
17,106
21
» 1906
In the whole World, 11,558,610
D. The local distribution of the Jews.
We see from the foregoing synopsis that the pro-
portion of Jews to the general population is very small,
and in few countries exceeds 10 per cent. These
countries are the fifteen Government Departments of
the Russian Pale of Settlement, Poland, Galicia,
Bukovina, Roumania and Palestine. Of these, Pales-
tine has only rec^tly become a land for immigrants,
whereas the other countries belonged formerly to the
kingdom of Poland, or bordered on Poland, and owe
NUMERICAL STRENGTH OF THE JEWS 43
their large Jewish population to the masses of Jews
who concentrated themselves in the Polish kiagdom
between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. The
density of the Jewish population never exceeds 20 per
cent, in any single Russian or Russo-Polish Govern-
mental Department. It reaches :
18.22 per cent, in the Government of Warsaw.
17.49 „ „ „ Grodno.
16.06 „ „ „ Minsk.
15-85 >, „ Petrokow.
15-77 .. .. » . Lomscha.
15.69 „ „ „ Sedlecz.
In thirteen other governments of the Russian and
Polish Pales of Settlement the proportion of Jews to
the general population is 10-15 cent., in five govern-
ments it falls as low as 4-10 per cent., in the Government
of Poltawa to 3.99 per cent. Outside the Pale of Settle-
ment the Jews constitute hardly an3rwhere more than
I per cent. In Galicia the Jewish population in the
municipal districts of Cracow and Lemberg is 28.11 per
cent, of the general population, five districts have from
15-20 per cent., and in aU other districts the percentage
of Jews is less than 15 per cent. In Roumania three
departments have more than 10 per cent, of Jews,
namely the department of Jassy, 24.3 per cent., Boto-
sani, 17.1 per cent., Dorohoi, 11.4 per cent. Besides
the above-mentioned countries the Jews of Hungary
and Morocco constitute quite a considerable fraction
of the population ; in all other countries the percentage
of Jews varies from i to 2 per cent, of the entire
population.
The dispersion of the Jews, as we se^ from the fore-
going figures, is perhaps more thoroughly consummated
44
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
to-day than ever before. In former periods of the
Diaspora the Jews had at least one country (Babylon
till the eleventh, Spain and the South of France till the
fifteenth, Poland till the eighteenth centuries) in which
the great majority of Jews lived, and which served as a
national and cultural centre for the Jews who were
scattered in smaller communities in other lands. A
himdred and fifty years ago the Jews were almost
exclusively concentrated in the kingdom of Poland ;
those Jews who lived outside Poland, in Turkey, Italy,
Holland, England, and Germany, only composed a sm^
fraction of Jewry. To-day the province of the smaller
kingdom of Poland with its neighbouring districts still
harbours half the Jews, but the other half has left this
centre and spread in aU directions, and this process of
dispersion is making great headway in the present day.
Assimilation thus gains impetus, because the smaller
the percentage of Jews amongst Christians, the more
susceptible they are to the assimilative influences of
their surroundings.
SECTION II.
the causes of rafid assimilation
IN THE PEESENT DAY.
48
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
enables him to demand only a low rate of interest,
whereas in the Middle Ages the risks attending money-
lending had compelled him to demand a very high rate.
It was not only as a provider of credit that the Jew
came to be looked upon by the Christian as " honest '' ;
as man of business and pioneer of industrial develop-
ment he was everywhere welcomed. Under the guild
system it had been considered dishonourable for any
individual to make great profits, because that would
have been prejudicial to the other members of the guild.
The Jew, who stood outside the guild, and sought only
his own advantage, sinned against the spirit of guilds
and corporations. His whole conduct of business was
immoral according to their conceptions.^ With the pass-
ing away of the guilds, the “ dishonesty ” of the Jew
passed away too ; what he did the Christian did also ;
private trade, the race for money and profit, has become
the foimdation of modem economic life. So the activi-
ties of the Jews came to be considered “honest” because
the general population adopted Jewish methods.
B. Successes of the Jews in capitalistic enterprise.
As merchants and entrepreneur^ the Jews were
soon brilliantly successful, showing aU that great
business capacity which for 2,000 ye^lrs had seemed to
jnark them out as predestined for commercial callings.
It is a mistake to account for the fact that the majority
of Jews are occupied in trade, by saying that the
Christians of the Middle Ages shut them out from all
other callings. It was not in Europe that the Jews
fiorst became traders ; since the Babylonian exile they
An this is beard'in 13k cry raised ags^nst tbe moniem
sitore." Xb.e smafl ^hops wbk^ are jbtacd tnt By'iSie competi^oB
of the great emporia dehonnee these lathsr as
, ECONOMIC PROGRESS OF THE JEWS 49
had devoted themselves in ever-increasing numbers to
trade in Syria, Egypt, Babylon, etc. j while in Palestine
itself, till the destruction of their nationality, they lived
on the products of the land. In the Diaspora the Jews
have never occupied themselves with agriculture to any
extent.^ ' 0 ^he Middle Ages did not turn them into
traders, but merely intensified and increased an apti-
tude that was already there. It may be taken as a
general nole that legislation does not produce new con-
ditions in domestic economy, it only legalises existing
conditions, and thus secures them against changes.
Laws would never have succeeded in confining the Jews
to work as traders and pedlars if the Jews had not
already come to Emrope in these capacities. On the
^dffier hand, khe Christians of the thirteenth and Jour-
teenth centuries, when they took up commerce, and
when aU the great trades sprang up, did exclude Jews
from their organisations, and thereby drove them from
respectable and respected trades into the despised ones
of peddling, pawnbroldng, and usury.
It is commonly agreed that the Jews do not owe
their conomercial eihinence to chance, but to an extra-
ordinary inborn business capacity. “ The Jewish race
is — on one side of its character — ^the incarnation of the
capitalistic business spirit,” says Sombart,^ whose
verdict will stand for that of others.* This means, in
^ The opposite is the view taken by Schipper {Ang&nge des Ko/pi-
icdismus hei dm abmdldndischm Judm im fyuheren Miitelalter),
* Dey moderne Kapitalismus, vol, ii. p. 549 (Leipzig, 1902) . Sombart
has recently depicted in detail the eminent part played by Jews in
the development of capitalism, in his book Die Juden und das
Wirtschaftslehen (I-eipzig, 19 ii).
^ ® Coaroborations of this verdict can be found in Russell ai^id
Levds, TAf 7 ^ vn London, p. 63 ; B. Webb, The Jew of East London,
ch®>. ii.j WoltranhV EoiiHscke Anthropologie, p. 308, etc,
D
50
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
fact, that Jews, to a far greater extent than Christians,
produce men who ijpt only have energy and daring,
but possess alert minds, with a special gift for swift
comprehension and combination. It is this gift which
makes the Jews the greatest chess players, excellent
skilled workmen, technical inventors and first-dass
business men.
It is only because this business capacity, from .its
great importance in industrial life is so strikingly in
evidence that we are apt to form the erroneous con-
dusion that the talents of the Jetvs are exdusivdy
commercial.^
It^is not unlikdy that the Middle Ages helped to
foster this natural inclination of the Jews ; the continual
persecutions and restrictions acted as a sort of natural
selection by which the less cunning and resourceful Jews
were removed, and only the very cleverest — those who
could extricate themsdves from the greatest difficulties
— ^were able to survive. Similarly the smartness of the
American is most simply explained by this theory of
natural sdection ; that is to say, it was only the most
energetic, adaptable and courageous elements of Europe
who risked the voyage over the ocean, and left these
gifts as an inheritance to their descendants. The
^ When we speak of the commercial superiority of the Jews, it
is only in comparison with the European peoples among whom they
live. Compared with some other peoples, particularly Indians,
Greeks, Armenians and Chinese, this superiority is no longer apparent.
In the East there is even a proverb to the et^ect that in business
one Armenian is equal to three Greeks, and one Greek to three
Jews. It is perhaps more than a coincidence that all these rivals
of the Jews belong, like them, to the oldest civilisations, to nations
who had reached a high state of culture at the time when the peoples
of Central and Northern Europe were totally uncivilised. An
ancient culture seems thus calculated to develop a predisposition
to trade and cOminerue.
ECONOMIC PROGRESS OF THE JEWS 51
commercial ascendancy of the Jews must not be taien
to mean that every Jew is ipso facto a good business
man, and that no Christian is Ms .equal. There are
and always were great business men among Christians.
But the proportion is much greater among Jews than
among Christians. The extraordinary part played by
Jews in the building up of modem iritemational trade
and finance is proof of this. Jews Have had no small
share in inaugurating the present-day system of joint-
stock enterprises, and of banks, with their facilities for
exchange, for the concentration of capital, for improve-
ment in communications, for unbounded competition
and wild speculation. In Germany the new kind of shop
— ^the store — ^is entirely the creation of Jews, and the
latest industrial combinations, trusts, S3mdicates, etc.,
are, if not creations of Jews, at least used by them
to the greatest advantage.
In the struggle for life, besides intellectual gifts, the
industry, versatility, and powers of adaptation of the
Jew stand him in good stead. The Jew does not despair
if one of his enterprises fails ; he begins again straight
away with another. If he should be altogether un-
successful in one calling, he is ready at once to take upi
another.^ In this he is totally unlike the German
Christian, for example, who is slow to change his
vocation, but similar to the North American, who also
changes his profession without the slightest hesitation.
The adaptability of the Jew is shown also in another
direction ; he changes his manner of living according
to circumstances, without being in the least upset by
^That is, provided the calHng is not held in contempt. For
instance in Galicia, a Jew who had his fire-wood chopped by a
JRnth^nan told me in answer to my question why a Jew was not
ei^loyed for work, that no Jew would undertake it for double
the ws^e^ *
52
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
the change. Thus he can exist on less than the
European Christian, and yet not be satisfied with the
best that money can buy. This is due to the fact that
the Jew, unlike, let us say, the German peasant, has
no fixed standard of life : he is therefore always in a
state of uncertain equilibrium, always pushing forward,
never satisfied ; whereas the Christian is usually content
when he has arrived at the standard of his class.
C. Wealth of the Jews in develofed countries.
Wherever there are no Armenians, Greeks or Indians
to compete with him, and the geographical, industrial
and political conditions are favourable to the free play
of his commercial instinct, the Jew rises to wealth and
position. This is clearly exemplified by the immi-
gration of Jews into the United States, .^though they
are one of those peoples who bring least money with
them as immigrants, their condition there is, as Joseph
Jacobs says, highly satisfactory.^ Nothing is more
extraordinary than the rapidity with which the new
inhabitants find a means of livelihood. Those even who,
on arrival, seek assistance from charitable institutions,
soon get along without help. In a World Almanac for
the year 1900, a list of 4,000 millionaires included 114
Jewish names. This is the more remarkable since, in
the last decades, Jewish immigrants have been relatively
much poorer than non- Jewish. In Surinam (Dutch
Guiana) the Jews, who emigrated thither from Brazil
in 1644 and were' able to develop themselves in absolute
political freedom*, attained to the highest standing and
prosperity : “ They became through industry, sobriety
and thrift, masters of the country, though they only
numbered 1,400. T^y control afl- ‘trade, all the gdd-
* Jewish Encyclopedia, (" Immigration ").
ECONOMIC PROGRESS OF THE JEWS 53
fields, aU the most infl-uential situations. The colonial
troops (Schutterij) from their commandant down to
their youngest lieutenant are officered only by Jews.” ^
In Germany the prosperity and higher social status
of the Jew in comparison with the rest of the population
is shown in many ways : primarily by the fact that to
a far greater extent than the Christian he belongs to
the " independent ” class — ^that is, to the highest of
the three categories : independent, official, and wage-
earning. This independent class constitutes three-
fifths of the total nrunber engaged in business, while for
RELIGION AND INCOME TAX IN BERLIN 1905-6.
Religion of the Income
Tax payer liable to more
than 21 MkS; Income Tax
{ue. with income ex-
ceeding X500 Mks.
a year).
Number of
Taxpayers.
Per cent,
of total
number.
State receipts
from Income
Tax (in Mks.).
Per
cent, of
the total.
Income
Tax
average
per head.
Evangelist,-
I
156,590
75.96
20,812,113
60.88
132-91
Catholics, -
Other Christian
sects and Dis-
14.756
7,16
1,641,917
4.80
III.27
senters, -
1,068
0.52
288,474
0.83
270.11
Jews, - - -
29,426
X4.28
10*517*535
30.77
357-42
Other Religions, -
17
O.OI
879
O.OI
51-71
Garrison, -
4*271
2.07
922,013
2.69
215.^3
Total,-
206,128
100.00
34.182,931
100.00
165.84
the Christian it is barely one-fourth.® • In Berlin, the
greater wealth of the Jews is manifest in the accom-
panying table, from which it will be seen that the Jews,
who in 1905 constituted only 4.84 per cent, of the total
* Prof. Joest in Globus. Voi. 60, p. 304 (1891).
* am here repeating some remarks made in my publioation Die
Jttden in Preussen Deutschland,
54
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
population of Berlin, gave 14.27 per cent, of house-
holders liable to an income tax of 21 marks (that is,
having over 1,500 marks (£75) yearly income) ; and the
sum realised by taxation of these householders catne to
almost a third of the total, namely 30.77 per cent.
The Jews of Berlin numbered on 1st December, 1905,
98,893 souls, and of these, two-thirds were non-earning
children and women. Therefore the fact that 29,426
Jews were liable to the 21 Mk. income-tax means that
only a small fraction of wage-earning Jews had less than
1,500 Mks. income, whereas among Christians this class
constitutes the majority.
In the Arch-Duchy of Baden in the year 1907 we
get the following :
Protesstants. Catholics. Jews
Mks. Mks. Mks
Capital, . - - 1,007,242,320 632,064,030 180,399,900
Real estate and Trade
Earnings,- - - 1,153,062,100 1,354,649,080 177,686,920
Income, - - - 172,760,510 141,597,035 31,815,480
Against this the average per head of the population
was :
Catholics. Jews.
Mks. Mks. Mks
Property (Capital, Real
Estate and Earnings), 2,806 1,646 13,829
Income, - . - 244 117 1,229
In Frapkfurt-am-Maia (famous for the wealth of its
Jews) we get on a tax levied on those with mbre than
3,000 Mk. income, Jews, 63.15 %, Prot^tants, 25.45 %»
Catholics, 16.93 %.
ECONOMIC PROGRESS OF THE JEWS 55
In Copenhagen the greater prosperity of the Jews is
patent from the fact that to every two of the indepen-
dent class there is only one of the working class (against
ten of the general population) ; and again from their
better conditions of housing and domestic service.
Among Jews.
Among General
Population.
Houses with 1-2 rooms,
1 1.9 percent.
48.5 percent.
»» >» 3‘“4 *» - -
21.7
35.8 ..
» 5-7
47-^ »
12.9 „
„ „ 8 and more.
19.2
2.8 „
Jews.
Gener^
Population.
Families without servants, -
34.8 per cent.
87.2 per cent.
„ with I servant.
37-6 »
10.4 „
„ „ 2 servants.
21.0
2.0
»f *» 3 >* “ “
4»7 ..
0-3
„ „ more than 3, -
1.9
O.I „
In Italy the notable number of Jews engaged in the
higher eind more independent callings (officials, lawyers,
doctors, engineers, teachers), and the high percentage
living on their incohaes (9.26 per cent, of Jews as against
2.86 per cent. Christians), are attributed to the greater
material prosperity of the Jews.
D. Poverty of the Jews in industrially backward countries.
We have shown that the Jews acquire great wealth
wherever the modem system of capitalised trade and
manufacture has been introduced ; this is far from being
the case in countries of backward economic develop-
ment. The lack of manufacture and of trade on
a large scsde in Galicia, and their backward state in
56
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
Russia, Roumania, and Turkey have made it impossible
for the Jews of these countries to make the best use of
their talents ; so they eke out a miserable existence with
petty handicraft and peddling, and — ^the supply of shop-
keepers and artisans already far exceeding the demand
— compete with one another murderously.
In Russia this competition is aggravated by the Jews
being confined to the Pale of Settlement and thus
prevented from sharing in the life of the Greater
Russian Empire. The hardship which this entails on
the Jews can be numerically estimated by comparing
the number of Jews engaged in their specific callings
within and without the Pale area. Take, for instance,
four similarly constituted governments — ^Witebsk and
MoMlew within the Pale area, and Pskow and Smolensk
outside it. To every i,ooo of the general population we
have :
Engaged in
Witebsk and
Mohilew.
Pskow and
Smolensk.
Hawking, - - . -
52.9
19.5
Tailoring, - - ^ -
-
243
n -3
Carrying Trade, - - -
-
6.8
1*7
Teacliing and Education,
-
6.0
2.3
As we are here dealing with callings directed to local
markets, and the Jews make two-thirds of the total
numbers engaged in these callings, we see that the
q>ecifically Jewish branches of trade- have two and three
fenes the numbers engaged in them Avithin the Pale of
Settlement, as compared with those outside it. We
can imagine the overcrowding in these caUings.^
Besides this, there are within the Pale, any number of
^ Brutzku$^ Im russischen Ansiedelungsgehiet und ausserhctlh
dessfilban.
ECONOMIC PROGRESS OF THE JEWS 57
Jews with no fixed business — ^broker one day, clerk the
next, teacher the next. Halpem tells of a Russian
Jew whose chief means of livelihood consisted in un-
corking sealed butts of brandy with a corkscrew on
market days.^ With luck the man earned 15 copecks
a market day. In a special study of conditions in
Odessa ® we read that in the year 1900, of 150,000
Jewish inhabitants no less than 48,500 were supported
by such feeble communal charity as there was ; 63 per
cent, of the dead in Odessa had pauper burials, and a
further 20 per cent, were buried at the lowest possible
rate. It is not ‘without reason that Leroy-Beaulieu
sa5rs : “ I can certify that nothing in Europe is so
poor, no beings earn their crust of rye bread with such
bitterness, as nine-tenths of the Russian Jews.”
In Gahcia we see the same thing. Only a fraction of
the Jews have any sort of assmred existence, the rest
live from hand to mouth and often do not know in the
morning where to procure a meal for themselves and
their families. Max Nordau has coined the word
“ Luftmenschen ” (men of air) for such t3;pes<. In
statistics these “ Luftmenschen ” come under the head-
ing of " Casuals ” or “ Independents of no vocaticm,'’
and it is noteworthy that the Jews of Galicia, who
constitute 03 aly 11.09 of the population, give
31,754, i.e. 51.51 per cent., of these “ Independents of
no vocation,” and 61,829, i.e. 39.80 per cait.,'of
" Casuals.” A Jewish artisan’ or shopman who earns
from 8-10 gulden a week is considered almost well off,
and is looked upon by the masses, who generally have
to support numerous families on 6, 5, and even 4 and
3 guldens a week, as a man to be envied, I visited over
Di$ jiidischen Arbsiter in London, p. 7.
* J. BrodawsH, DasjUdische EUnd in Odessa,
58 THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
100 families of the artisan class in small Galician towns
in the year 1903, and found that the majority earned a
weekly wage of from 5-7 gulden, of which at least i
or gulden went to rent and Hebrew instruction for
the children. On the remaining 4-5 gulden the family
of 5-8 persons had to feed and clothe themselves !
Perhaps conditions in Roumania are even worse than
in Galicia, and the Jews suffer the more acutely because
imtil the eighties, their lot there was a very good one.
But since then the influx of Jewish immigrants from
Galicia and Russia has set up such terrible competition
among the Jews themselves, that this, combined with
the anti-Semitic legislation, has literally robbed the
majority of Jewish small shop-keepers and artisans of
any sort of means of livelihood.
E. Principal vocations followed by Jews.
Accurate statistical information as to the vocations
followed by the Jews are to hand from Italy, Germany,
New South Wales, Austria and Russia, and are set
down in the following table. We see from it that the
majority are engaged in trade and commerce ; in Italy,
Germany and New South Wales about one-half, and in
Austria and Russia about two-fifths of all Jewry is
engaged in it, against 5 to 10 per cent, of Christians,
On the other hand, Christians are engaged in agri-
culture to the extent of 75 per cent, in Germany, 50
per cent, in Austria and Italy, and even 66 per cent,
in Russia, while the Jews are a negligible quantity.
Austria is a slight exception to this, 11.42 per cent, of
Jews— quite a considerable percentage — ^being occupied
there in agriculture. Still it would be wrong to imagine
these Jews as peasants ; they are for the most part
lessees and lessors of property, administrators, sellers
ECONOMIC PROGRESS OF THE JEWS 59
Vocation.
To EVERY
10,000 Christians.
Italy 1
(tgoi).
Germany
(1907).
New
S. Wales
(1901).
Austria®
(1900).
Russia^
(1897).
Christians,
5326
3166
—
5444 i
Jews.
31
128 1
i
174
1142
Manufac-
Christians.
2244 i
3587
—
2668
1144
tures, j
Jews.
867
2151
2494
2867
3463
Commerce,
Christians-
833
1068
—
607
543
Jews.
5034
4972
4985
3S26
4315
Public
Christians.
648
551
—
460
413
Service,
Jews.
1871
647
884
1 723
630
Casual
Christians.
83
555
—
224
443
labour.
Jews,
78
210
! 614
l_ . .. .
1 543
661
Domestic
Christians.
136
—
—
—
—
Service,
Jews.
31
—
—
—
Of indepen-
Christians.
492
1073
—
440
226
dent means,
Jews.
1798
1892
713
377
400
Of no
Christians.
239
i —
157
74
vocation.
Jews.
290
1
136
522
150
i
of agricultural produce. The noticeably large share
taken by the Jews in manufacture in Austria and
Russia is explained by the great ndmber of Jewish
operators in these countries, whereas in other countries
the Jews belong by preference to wholesale manu-
facturers. In the division " Public Service ” Italy
claims a large number of Jews. This is because in
^ The figures for Italy represent males of over fifteen years.
* The figures for Austria, and Kussia include both workers and
those dependent on them.
• The figures for Christians in Russia refer to Greater Russia
only, ^
6o
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
Italy all civil and military positions are open to them,
and the Jews there are not, as in Germany and Austria,
limited to unofiftcial, voluntary professions (such as
those of doctor, lawyer, teacher, etc.).
In the divisions of Casual Labour and “ Domestic
Service ’* there is a marked difference between the two
groups Germany and Italy — ^Austria and Russia. In
the former countries the Jews take a smaller share than
the Christians. The reason for this has already been
given ; aU branches of industry open to Jews in
Austria and Russia are overcrowded, making a large
surplus of Jews who have to seek their fortune as
chance dictates, one day in one, one day in another
occupation.
The “ men of independent means,” of whom private
gentlemen and pensioners make up the largest con-
tingent, are most numerous in Italy and Germany,
illustrating the greater prosperity of Jews in these
countries.
In general it may be said that the five countries
represent stages in the gradual ascent of the Jews from
peddling and hawking to wholesale trade and manu-
facture. Russia and Austria show them on the lowest
rungs of petty trading and handicraft. They are here,
in an overwhelnaing majority, small artisans, shop-
keepers, innkeepers, usurers, pawnbrokers, pedlars —
earning a scanty existence, which the slightest mis-
chance suffices to destroy. New South Wales shows
an advance in the direction of wholesale trade and
more liberal professions, while in Germany, and still
more in Italy, we see the Jews exchanging their former
petty occupations for the great industries and all
liberal callings. ,In Rome, Berlin and London the
type of Jew (apart from tie “greener” immigrant)
ECONOMIC PROGRESS OF THE JEWS 6i
is no longer, as he was 150 years ago, the shabby hawker
and pawnbroker, but the successful man of business,
the factory manager, the wholesale merchant, the
banker. Of all Jews engaged in business there are
employed, in the highest departments of commerce —
in particular, in banking and finance — 5.63 per cent,
in Italy, 3.90 per cent, in Germany, as against only
0.36 per cent, in Russia.
In Roumania, which could not be included in the
table because it had no complete statistics, the Jews
are the backbone of the young Roumanian industry,
and provide a very considerable number of artisans.
An official enquiry instituted in the year 1901-02
ascertained that there were :
As Employers. As Officials and Workmen.
Roumanians - - 53.9 per cent. 77.0 per cent.
AHens of foreign
nationality - - 26.6 „ 17.7 „
Aliens without foreign
nationality - - 19.5 „ 5.3
On 1st April, 1908, it was ascertained in Roumania
that of the 127,841 persons engaged in handicraft,
25,184 = 19.70 per cent., belonged to the Jewish creed,^
while the Jews numbered :
10,831 ^ong 41,260 master-workmen, i.e. 26.26
551 „ 6,189 foremen, „ 8-90
10,699 „ 64,023 artisans, „ 16.72
13,103 „ 16,369 apprentices, „ 18.96
In certain districts the majority of artisans are Jews ;
for instance, 68.70 per cent, in the district of Botoschani,
1 Jewish women figure largely in all handicrafts. Out of a total
of 15^070 women engaged in handicraft, 39.41 per cent, were Jewish.
62
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
63.05 per cent, in the district of Jassy, 65.57 in the
district of Dorohoi, etc. Similarly in certain branches
of handicraft there is a majority of Jewish workmen,
for instance, among plumbers, modistes, watchmakers,
goldsmiths, brushmakers, gold-lace makers, box-makers.
To go by figures, the greatest number of Jews are
employed in tailoring (9,259), shoemaking, plumbing,
carpentering and baking. Their excess of numbers and
the consequent terrible competition, combined with the
preference shown to the Christian workman as against
the Jew, tend to make the position of the Jewish work-
man in Roumania as bad and even worse than that of
his brother in Galicia.
The Russian and Galician immigrants to England
and the United States have created new industries in
their new homes, such as dressmaking, laundry, and
the manufacture of footwear, caps, cigars, boxes and
domestic furniture. Most iiiamigrants are employed in
these industries, the centres of which in England are
London, Manchester, Leeds ; in America, New York,
Philadelphia, Chicago. The condition of these Jewish
working men is not very brilliant, but at any rate it is
a great advance on that in Galicia and Russia, The
conditions of housing and labour may be very bad
according to English standards, but they are not to be
compared to the overcrowding, the dirt and the misery
of Eastern Europe. Besides, there is always the chance
of escape from the sweating system, and of finding some
better paid employment ; and most of them do succeed
sooner or later in becoming their own masters. This is
their most ardent desire, almost as Halpem says, a
mania with them.^ “ The Jewish working-man, almost
without exception, choices the hope of one day
I Die JUdischen Arbeiier in London, p. 49 (Stuttgart, 1903).
ECONOMIC PROGRESS OF THE JEWS 63
becoming a small master, dealer or shopkeeper — ^in
short, of living rather on profits than on wages.” ^
It is a peculiarity of the Jewish working man of Eastern
Europe that he is not proud of his calling, as, for
iustance, German and English workmen are. Jewish
handicraft is seldom in a healthy state ; it is weak and
stunted. This is partly attributable to the generally
bad economic conditions in Eastern Europe ; but it is
certainly partly due to the fact that Jews cannot take
a real pleasure in handicraft ; their excess of mental
energy makes them feel the need of change and emotion
such as they find in trade, but not in labour.^ The New
York Ghetto poet, Morris Rosefeld, does not speak for
himself alone in describing his agony of weariness and
desolation in the workroom and factory : he voices the
general feeling of the Jewish workman. Miserable
dwellings, scarcity of food, renunciation of pleasures —
these are to him as nothing compared to the influence
of machine and factory. It is not from dread of any
physical strain, but simply from dislike of uniformity
and monotony, as can be seen from the fact that in
work that requires skill and intelligence, Jews are to
be found in great numbers in Western Europe. Thus
almost the whole industry of diamond-cutting, which
is centred in Amsterdam, is in Jewish hands; of the
10,000 engaged in it there, 80 per cent, are Jews, and
1 Russell and Lewis, TAe Jew in London, p, 192*
* lt is the same craying tor excitement and chance that makes
Jews addicted to gambling. Nowhere in England is there so much
lottery play as among the poor Jewish immigrant population ; and
in Eastern Europe, betting, lottery, and card-playing is widespread.
What the poor Jew does in a small way, the rich Jew does in a large
way, in speculation, on the Exchange, in the Casino, and on the
racecourse. It is characteristic that the Jewish immigrants in
^ England go in for the branches of trade where most risk is involved,
snoh as the perisha^ E^ and fruit markets.
64 THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
of these, the 1,300 female workers are practically all
Jewesses.^ That we are here dealing with superior
workmen is apparent from the average wage of the men,
which amounts to 50-80 Mks. per week, and the fact
that they constitute one of the strongest trades-unions
in the world. The Jews are engaged in large numbers
in the gold and silversmith trade in all countries ; they
are numerous also as opticians, higher mechanics, and
master tailors. The Jew’s dislike of factory work is
increased by the slight chances of promotion it offers
— ^the unlikelihood of his ever being able to realise his
ambition of becoming his own master. The strict
disciphne of the factory, with its suppression of any
independent initiative, is in the highest degree anti-
pathetic to him. He actually prefers to work under
the sweating system, in -spite of the unhygienic con-
ditions of its workrooms, and the excessive hours ; he
prefer? it because of the freedom of intercourse between
the workers (including the employer), and because there
is less supervision and discipline. The Jew only
becomes an ordinary artisan when trade has ceased to
pay at all, and the great number of Jewish workmen
and their organisation into unions in Eastern Europe
shows that the Jew can at any rate make a living as a
workman and an operative. But wherever trading is
possible, he trades. Nor can we wonder at this ; he
is thereby only carrying out the universal law that
everyone strives to do that for which he is best fitted.
F. Non-wage-earning dependents of the Wesi European
Jew.
In comparison to the East European Jew, the
Western Jew has few non-Avage-eaming dependents
1 N. W. Gk>Tdsteiii, Juden m der Am^ferdamev Diamanten'^
Industrie, '
ECONOMIC PROGRESS OF THE JEWS 65
(children and grown-up daughters). In Germany, by
the census of 1882, 15.94 per cent., and by that of 1859,
21.97 per cent, of Jewish females were wage-earners ;
whereas in Eastern Europe the principle that the man
is the wage-earner, and the place of the woman is in
the home, is generally acted upon ; it is only during
the last few decades that conditions have altered
sufficiently for the female worker to be no longer a
rarity.
If we compare the number of non-wage-eamers (0-15
and over 60 years) and wage-earners (15-60 years) of
Jews and non- Jews, we see that in Russia and Roumania,
Galicia and Bukovina, the Jews have more, in all other
countries /ewer non-wage-eamers than the Christians.
The same difference is noticeable between the Eastern
and Western European Jews. The West European
Jews are seen to be less burdened with dependents
even than West European Christians, and this, in spite
of the fact that the number of persons over 60 years
is larger with the Western Jews than anywhere else.
This is because many persons over 60 years stiU go on
earning, and their number in any case is only a fraction
of the number of children. Leroy-Beaulieu says : “ It
is as if, clever reckoners that they are, they had solved
by instinct the difficult problem of population in the
manner the most convenient for themselves, and the
best for national economy.”
The burden of “ dependents with no vocations ” on
the Jews of Western Europe would be still less, and the
comparison with the Christians Still morfe favourable,
were it not that Jewish childraa on an average attend
schools to a higher age than Christian children. The
latter leave school for the most part at the legally
prescribed age of fourteen years, while Jewish
66 THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
children often remain till their eighteenth and nine-
teenth year.
G. Possibilities of advance in the industrial position of
the Jews of Eastern Europe.
The foregoing discussion shows that the Jews have
attained to a high standard of prosperity in all countries
which are commercially well developed — such a high
standard indeed, that it is a rarity to find a native bom
Jew in England, Germany, France or Italy who is poor.
In Eastern Europe, on the other hand, the badge of
poverty is on the whole population. We must, of
course, take into consideration that this poverty is
all the more striking by contrast with the wealth of
the Western Jews. If we compare it to the economic
position of the Christians of Eastern Europe, the result
is not always unfavourable to the Jews. In Galicia,
for instance, judging from the proceeds of taxation, in
twenty-seven large towns in 1904 the Jews stand
financially higher than do the Christians, the
number of taxpayers and particularly of super-tax-
payers (those earning Kr. 100 a year and over), being
relatively more numerous among Jews than Christians.^
And if we were to compare the economic condition
of the Jews in Eastern Europe to-day with that of
twenty or fifty years ago, we should find in all
probability that, bad as it is, it is stiU an advance on
former conditions.
Signs are not wanting that at no very distant date
we may expect a further advance, and a very great one.
Wholesale trade and industry are slowly but gradually
insinuating themselves into Eastern Europe, and all
the opposition of the Government and the non- Jewish
^ Thon, D*« Juden in Oesterreick, p. 133 (Berlin, 1908).
ECONOMIC PROGRESS OF THE JEWS 67
population will not be able to binder the Jews from
exercising their natural gifts in the industrijJisation of
Eastern Europe. Thus Romnania, in spite of the most
stringent and repressive laws against the foreigner,
i.e. the Jew, could not prevent Jews creating great
industries in Roumania and thus bettering their con-
dition. The laws of economic development prove
stronger in the end than paper legislation.
We have seen that the poverty of the Jews in Eastern
Europe is caused not only by the lack of wholesale
trade, but also by the overcrowding in the various
Jewish vocations, and the consequent murderous com-
petition. This overcrowding has been lessened of late
by increased emigration into the interior and to foreign
countries. In Russia the Jews force their way out of
the Pales of Settlement within which anti-Jewish
legislation seeks to enclose them. In 1897 there were
211,221 Jews outside the Pale of Settlement, and their
number has since appreciably increased in spite of all
rights of residence being withheld. Once out of the
Pale the Jews find wide fields for their energy and
achieve such prosperity as was unattainable before. In
Galicia the Jews leave the villages and small towns
where the increasing State-protection of peasants, the
spread of the co-operative spirit, and the competition
of Christian dealers make it harder than, ever for them
to get a living, and turn their steps to the large towns.
But much more important than these migrations
is the emigration to foreign countries. This takes
hundreds of thousands of Jews from Eastern Europe,
and not only opens up a brighter futmre to the
immigrants themselves, but also to the Jews who
stay behind, who are thus relieved of some of the
pressure of competition. In particular, the insecurity
68
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
of the axtisan as to whether there will be work for
him on the morrow, an insecurity which hangs like
a shadow over the broad mass of Eastern European
Jews, becomes less and less, and the number of " Luft-
menschen ” is on the decline.
On the whole, therefore, we may hope that at no
very distant date better days will dawn for the Jews of
Eastern Europe. The prohibition against residing out-
side the Pale, which the Russian Government is now
modifying, must sooner or later become a dead letter ;
industry advances, communication is improving ;
Jevwsh emigration assumes larger proportions year by
year. Thus the J ews of Eastern Europe will in aU likeli-
hood advance industrially within the next ten years to
the point their Western brethren have already reached.
This industrial advance — foimded on progressive
capitalism — ^will not oidy improve the economic con-
dition of the Jews, enable their children to enjoy good
schooling, and widen their intercourse with Christians ;
above and beyond all this, it will, as we have already
seen in Western Europe, wipe out the economic anti-
thesis between Jew and Gentile, and generally smooth
the way for rapid assimilation.
CHAPTER IV.
THE DECLINING BIRTH-RATE.
A. The decline in the Jewish birth-rate and its causes.
In face, of the great increase in the Jewish population
in the nineteenth century, which, according to Schudt,
had been going on from the very beginning of the
eighteenth century, it is rather surprising to see how
slow is the natural increase in the present day.
CHILDREN BORN.
Town.
Year.
Actuai- Numbers,
To EVERY 10,000
Persons.
■Bi
Gentiles.
Prussia,
1908
7,112
1,262,214
17-37
34.22
Berlin, -
1906
i »744
49,689
17.64
25.60
Breslau,
1906
306
14*427
15.03
32.02
Bavaria,
1908
892
224,684
16.12
34.73
Netherlands,
1906
2,491
168,461
23.95
3369
Amsterdam, -
Europ. Russia
1903
1*341
13.^81
22.70
30.72
(not includ-
ing Finland
and Poland),
1901
136,948
4,676,310
36.14
52.16
Austria,
I goo
39*990
927*949
3265
37-23
Vienna,
igoo
2,973
49,391
20.23
32.32
Hungary, -
1900
28,787
723,931
33 - 8 i
39-34
Budapest, -
I goo
4*701
18,798
28.29
34-99
Bulgaria,
1900-02
1*333
147,890
39.60
39-86
Roumania, -
1897-1902
9,769
228,857
36.63
40.22
Bukarest,
1904-05
1*047 ,
7*047
29.51
24.19
r
Europeans.
] (
Europeans.
Algiers,
1903
2.471 H
17,617
Hobams.
|- 43-254
31 55
Mohams.
i
126,042
J 1
30-56
70
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
The above table shows how (except in Algiers and
Bukarest) the percentage of Jewish births is lower
than that of other faiths. The table shows extra-
ordinary differences in the birth-rate between Jews of
different countries ; that of Algiers, for instance,
being 2^ times as high as that of Bavaria or Prussia.
It cannot be climatic conditions which cause this,
because we find the same divergency in neighbouring
countries with similar climates. Thus in Austria, for
instance, the birth-rate varies from 17.85 per cent, in
Bohemia to 38.01 per cent, in Galicia :
CHILDREN BORN IN THE YEAR 1900 IN
DIFFERENT PROVINCES OF AUSTRIA.
State.
Actual Numbers.
To EVERY t,ooo Persons of
1 THE General Population.
Jews.
Gentiles.
Jews.
Gentiles.
Bohemia,
1,655
217.I34
17-85
34-88
Lower Austria,
3,226
94.474
20.51
32.10
Bukovina,
2,840
27.143
29.54
42.81
Galicia, -
30,842
293,326
38.01
45-09
It is dear, then, that we have to seek the cause of
this divergency not in climatic but in social differences,
and we have not far to seek, when we compare the
prosperity and commercial development of South
Austria with the utter industrial misery of Galicia, and
bear in mind the publidy recognised fact that, accord-
ing as a population increases in well-being and culture,
so its birth-rate decreases : the difference in the
material conditions brings about the differences in the
birth-rate.
How great these are is perhaps most strikingly
illustrated by the statistics of the town of Charlotten-
THE DECLINING BIRTH-RATE 71
burg. In the year 1904-5 in the wealthy eastern
quarter the birth-rate was 10.95 ; while in the poor
workman’s quarter of Martinikenfelde it was 39.48,
almost four times as large. In the same proportion as
the material conditions of the Jews have improved
during the nineteenth century, so has their birth-
rate decreased. The figures in the accompanjdng
table are iUuminating :
AVERAGE YEARLY NUMBER OF BIRTHS
PER 1,000.
I^HI
They show how in Prussia the Jewish birth-rate has
fallen from 35.46 per cent, in 1822-40 to 17.79 in
1903-07. With the Christians the decrease is nominal
only, and they bring into the world to-day almost
double as many children as do the Jews. In Htmgary
we have much the same thing.
With this decrease in the birth-rate the Jewish
f amil y has assumed a totally different character.
Whereas at the beginning of the nineteenth century
Jamihes of 4-6 and more children abounded, to-day
f amili es of 2-4 children are the rule. For example, in
the year 1828, 40 per cent, of the Jews of Darmstadt
were under 14 years of age, in 1867 the percentage
had fallen to 31.23, and in 1905 persons under 15
constituted only 25.86 per cent, of the Jewish popula-
tion. In less than eighty years the average number of
children to a Jewish family had been reduced by almost
one-haif. TIms average issue of a Jewish marriage in
72
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
Prussia in the years 1875-79 was 4.57 (against 4.68
among Christians), in 1903-07 only 2.47 (against 4.26
among Christians). The slight decrease with the
Christians becomes an alarming one with the Jews :
a change from a system of four and five children to
one of two and three in a family in the space of less
than thirty years.
It would not be sufficient explanation to account
for the falling ofi of births by the increase of prosperity,
were there not some intervening stages to connect the
two together. In the first place we have the well-
estabhshed fact that the more wealthy and cultured
a population is, the later it postpones, and the more
cautious is it in entering, the bond of marriage, sometimes
evading it altogether. In the countries where the Jews
are poor, marriage takes place much earlier and more
MARRIAGES.
In
Year.
Actual Number.
Per 1,000 Inhabitants
OF SAME Creed.
Jews.
Gentiles.
Jews.
Gentiles.
Germany,
1907
4.512
499,452
7.42
8.32
Bavaria,
1907
422
50,658
7.62
7-83
Prussia,
1907
3>094
309,945
756
8.40
Berlin, - - -
22,482
7.72
11.58
Breslau,
1906
150
2,900
7-37
8.66
Hungary,
1900
6,853
162,628
8.04
8.84
Bohemia,
1903
688
49,494
7.42
7-95
Budapest, -
1900
1,236
5,091
7«44
9.48
Amsterdam, -
1904
378
3,638
6.40
8.05
Note . — ^Mixed marriages are counted half to the Jews, half to
Gentiles.
regularly than amongst the Jews of more prosperous
coxmtries, partly because the poor Jews are practically
all orthodox, and in orthodox circles marriage is a
THE DECLINING BIRTH-RATE
73
specific religious duty. In Galicia, for instance, there
is only an infinitesimal number of Jewish bachelors,
while an old maid would be looked upon as a mon-
strosity. Unfortunately, rehable marriage statistics
are lacking in the countries with poor Jewish popula-
tions, because the Jews of these countries do not
marry by the laws of the land, but in accordance with
the ordinances of the Talmud (in Galicia the majority
do this), and such marriages are not registered in the
official statistics. On the other hand, in countries
with a well-to-do Jewish population, where Jews are
married in accordance with the law of the land,
statistics prove — as the foregoing table has shown —
that Jews are behind Christians in marrying. The
low rate of marriage among Jews is the more
remarkable, seeing that since they have fewer
children than the Christians, they ought to have a
higher marriage rate. In Berlin, ist December, 1900,
of married inhabitants over the age of 20 years
there were ;
60.38 per cent. Christian males.
51.62 per cent. Jewish males.
53.83 per cent. Christian females.
52.5X per cent. Jewish females.
In Copenhagen in 1906 :
Males.
Females.
Jewish.
Christian.
20-25 years of age.
]
924
89.0
79.7
77.8
25^30
-
56.3
47.2
47*1
48.2
30-35 ,,
-
38.7
24-5
32-3
33-0
35-40 ..
26.Z
16.5
35 -X
27,1
40-45 ..
16.2
12.6
35*4
1
22.5
74
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
We see from this that Jews and Jewesses remain
single to a greater extent than Christians ; again, the
Jews, even when they do marry, do so later in life ;
thus, of the married inhabitants of Berlin on December,
1st, 19QO, under 30 (or, to be exact, bom after 1870)
there were :
15.56 per cent. Christian males.
6.89 per cent. Jewish males.
24.34 cent. Christian females.
20.41 per cent. Jewish females.
It is SL palpable as well as a statistically established
fact that the issue of late marriages is smaller
than that of early ones.^ Nevertheless, the frequent
cases of celibacy and of late marriage must not be
looked upon as the only causes of the small number
of children. The chief cause is imdoubtedly illicit
sexual intercourse, which has attained extraordinary
proportions during the nineteenth century, principally
in the large towns, and here again among the well-to-
do classes. The Jews of Western and Central Europe,
living as they do in large towns and in greater luxury
than the Christians, are affected more nearly by the
spread of this practice, while with the Christians the
consequences are to a certain extent nullified by the
high percentage of the population living in the villages
and small towns, where illicit sexual intercourse is
unknown. As long as the birth-rate in the country-
side continues to be high, the general birth-rate is not
much affected by the falling off in the large towns.
We see how far behind the birth-rate of the country
^Compare Rubin and Westergaard, p. 95; and Galton, Genitts
and Heredity, p. 340.
THE DECLINING BIRTH-RATE
75
population is that of the towns by the following table
from Roumania :
In the Year.
Jews,
Gentiles.
In Bukarest, -
_
1904-1905
29.51
24.19
In the Villages,
■
1897-1902
38.69
41.64
In addition to the above reasons there may also be
physiological causes which would account for the
barrenness or decreasing fertility of the wealthier
Jews. Though we may doubt whether there is any
truth in the contention that better nourishment leads
to barrenness, there is scarcely any doubt that the
prevalent nervousness of the educated classes is pre-
judicial to the propagation of the species ; especially
the harmful effects of not exercising the natur^
functions — ^more often found with men of the upper
classes who marry late, than with the early marrpng
lower classes — ^these are as potent factors as the ever-
mcreasing physical incapacity of the society woman to
bear children.
B. The low death-rate of the Jews partially equalises
the effect of the low birth-rate.
The low birth-rate of Jews — ^in some countries lower
even than that of the French (compare Prussia with
17.37 per cent, as against France with 22.1 per cent, in
1891-1900) — ^would result in a great falling off in the
Jewish population, far greater even than we are at
present experiencing, were the ill effects not to a
certain extent modified by a low death-rate.
We see from the accompanying table that the Jews
ever37where (if we except the Mohammedans of Algiers)
76
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
DEATHS.
In
Year.
Actual Figures.
Per
1,000 Inhabitants.
Jews.
Gentiles.
Jews.
Gentiles.
Prussia, -
1907
5,717
675,232
13.96
18.31
Bavaria, -
1907
703
137,993
12.70
21.33
European Russia
(not including
Finland and
Poland,)-
1901
68,492
3,156,436
18.08
32.51
Hungary, -
1900
14,459
500,775
16.98
27.21
Austria, -
1900
22,506
636,174
18.37
25.52
I
Christian
Christian.
Algiers, -
1897-99
1,420
12,457
29.12
39.16
inclusive.
Mohammed.
Moham.
1
71.837
19.08
Frankfort on the
Main,
1907
296
4,790
I 2 . 6 X
15-38
Budapest, -
1900
2,322
12,480
13-97
23.23
Roumania,
1896-
1902
} 5.557
159.337
20.84
28.00
Bukarest, -
1904-05
690
6,272
14.44
26.27
Berlin,
1905
1,310
33,141
13-45
17.08
Berlin,
1906
1,302
31.346
13-17
16.15
Breslau, -
1905-06
325
10,200
15-97
22.64
Charlottenburg, -
1904-05
180
2,767
11-33
12.42
Amsterdam,
1904
1 692
7,611
11.72
16.85
Vienna,
1900
1,841
j 32,462
12.53
21.25
Lemberg, -
1903
829
3,249
19.3
29.0
have a considerably lower death-rate than non- Jews — a
phenomenon which caused a Roumanian statistician
to remark ; “ The Jews apparently enjoy the privilege
of a special immunity from early death.” In con-
sidering the figures we must not forget that infants
(under i year) always constitute a large proportion of
the death-rate, and that the low birth-rate of the
Jews would explain in part the lower death-rate.
And, besides this, Jewish infants and children have
eveiything in their favour. In Prussia in 1882 we
77
THE DECLINING BIRTH-RATE
find that in every i,ooo legitimate births (including
still-born children), there survived over the first
year:
Protestants, - - 753 boys. 789 girls.
Catholics, - - 758 boys. 796 girls.
Jews, - - - 814 boys. 843 girls.
In Frankfurt-am-Main in 1907, of every 100 infants
(under i year) there died : Protestants 11.86, Catholics
11.67, Jsws 4.56 ; while, in Breslau in 1906, among
non-Jews 21.72, among Jews 6.21.
The causes of the smaller infant mortality among
Jews are not to be put down to any difference of
race, but rather to the absence of drunkenness in the
parents, and the better nourishment and care which the
poor Jews bestow on thdr children. Self-sacrificing
care for the children is one of the most remarkable
traits of Jewish family life. It can even be proved
statistically. It is well known that of all infant
scourges stomach and bowel troubles are the most
deadly, and these in their turn are for the most part
directly traceable to insufficient nourishment. In
Berlin in 1905, 8.48 per cent, of Christian babies imder
I year of age died in their first year of stomach and
bowel disorders, as against 2.57 per cent. Jewish;
and in Budapest between the years 1886-1890 in
every 100 children under 5 years of age 4.14 Catholic
children died of rupture, against 1.44 Jewish children.
So we see that Jews pay far more attention to the
care of these and other childish ailments than
Christians.
A further proof that the small infant mortality
amrvTig Jews is directly traceable to economic and
social causes is to be seen in the fate of illegitimate
78
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
Jewish children; here, where care and solicitude for
the infant is usually lacking, mortality is as high and
even higher than among non- Jewish children. In
Prussia in the year 1882 — ^the same year in which we
have just demonstrated the superiority of the Jews
in rearing legitimate children — ^we find that of every
1,000 illegitimate births, there survived over the first
year :
Protestants, - - 606 boys. 642 girls.
Catholics, - - 588 boys. 617 girls.
Jews, - - - 578 boys. 607 girls.
We see from this that illegitimate Jewish babies have
less chance of living than any others.
The same gulf between the chances of life of legiti-
mate and illegitimate Jewish children is found in
Budapest, 1901-1905, where of every thousand chil-
dren bom ahve, there died :
Catholics, - 161.9 legitimate. 176.8 illegitimate.
Jews, - 92.0 „ 143.4
Other creeds, 136.2 „ 148.5 „
We can get an exact picture of the proportions of
mortality by dividing up different groups according to
ages : thus, infants (o-i year), children (1-15 years),
adults (over 15 years), and examining the proportion
of deaths among each separately.
The statistics of the Grand Duchy of Hessen and of
the town of Budapest enable us to compare the mor-
tality of Jews and Christians at various ages, thereby
giving us an accurate idea of conditions. The figures
of Hessen in the accompanying table speak for them-
selves, and show how the Jews by superior care and
THE DECLINING BIRTH-RATE
79
nourishment save many infant lives which non-Jews
lose in infants under 5 years.
Age in Years,
Number of Jews
according to
Census 1905.
1
B
Average Number of Deaths
TO EVERY 1,000 Lives,
eluding
xths in
Jews
1903-06.
General
Population
1905-06.
m.
f.
xn.
f.
m.
m.
under
1
206
209
75
61
75.5
148.1
I to
5
784
838
14
19
4-5
5*7
153
14.9
10
1,044
1,013
5
10
1.2
2.5
3*0
2*7
10 „
15
1,125
1,169
3
8
0.7
1*7
1.8
2.6
15 »»
20
1,007
1,032
11
9
2.7
2.2
3-6
3-6
20 ,, ,,
30
2,229
2,220
28
26
3*1
2.9
5*1
5*6
30 ft ff
40
1,892
26
49
3*7
6-5
6.6
7*2
40 ,f
50
1,402
If 533
37
6.6
<3.5
I1.8
9.4
5 ^ ff *»
60
1,104
1.338
89
87
20.2
16.3
23.1
17*3
60 ,, ,,
T
869
956
162
127
46.6
33*2
46.5
41.8
70 ff
80
! 361
389
130
145
90.0
93*2
97*9
96.8
80 and over
no
117
88
100
200.0
213*7
231*7
223,1
Total,
11,991
12,706
668
681
13*9
13*4
17.4
16.4
The weeding out which goes on among Christian
infants from 0-5 years of age improves the chances of
living of the succeeding age-divisions until the age of
20, while with the Jews there is a certain falling off
at this age, and many die who, thanks to good nourish-
ment and care, had survived the difficult first years.
Between the ages of 20-50 years the mortality of
Jewish men is almost one-half, of Jewish women
one-third, less than that of Christian men and women.
After the fiftieth year the chances are about equal for
Jew and Christian, though there remains a slight
balance in favour of the Jew. The following table
for Budapest ^ shows how the Jews (with the exception
* Compare Elias Aiierbach, Die Sterhlichkeitder Juden in Bttdapest,
J901-1905.
8 o THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
only of male Jews from 10-15 years, and of Jewesses
between the ages of 50-60 and over 80) have at all
ages a lower death-rate than the Catholics.
MORTALITY IN BUDAPEST.
Number of Deaths.
To EVERY 1,000 IN EACH DIVISION OP AgE,
Catholics.
Jews.
Male.
Female.
Male.
Female.
0-5 years, -
-
-
-
89.9
76.7
38.5
36.4
5-10 .. -
-
-
-
7.8
6*3
3*9
4.6
10-15 „ -
-
-
2.6
2.9
3*0
2.0
X5-20 -
-
-
-
4*5
3*0
2.6
20-30 „ -
-
-
-
8.4
8*3
5*2
4*4
30-40 „ -
-
-
-
I4.I
10.6
7*1
5-6
40-50 „ -
-
-
-
27.7
14.1
12.9
10.2
50-60 „ -
-
-
-
36.8
19.6
24.7
20.3
60-70 „ -
-
-
-
62.9
41.4
41.9
34.9
70-80 „ -
-
-
-
1 X 4*9
91.6
104.7
67.3
Over 80 years.
■
212.X
X 15-9
196.9
182.8
The Jews have the greatest advantage in the division
0-5 years. And it is worthy of remark, also, that
with the Catholics, men die in far greater numbers than
women between the ages of 40-60 years — ^probably
because of their employment in unhealthy or dangerous
occupations, whereas with Jews of those ages there
is no great difference in the mortality of men and
women.
Nevertheless, the small infant mortality among Jews
does not alwa37s mean a lower death-rate ; it some-
times produces the opposite effect, for, even if numbers
of weak children are preserved to life by careful
tending, they usually die off before reaching old or
middle age. This explains why, as the table shows,
the death-rate of Prussian Jews over 15 has slowly
risen (from 10.13 per cent, to 11.30 per cent.), whereaa
THE DECLINING BIRTH-RATE .81
within the same space of time the death-rate among
Christians has fallen from 11.82 per cent, to 9.69 per
Deaths in Prussia
per 1,000.
1878-82.
1888-92.
Under
IS-
Over
15 -
Total.
Under
IS-
Over
IS-
Total
Christians, -
Jews,
13.41
7.40
11.82
10.13
25-23
17-53
12.17
5.06
ii.og .
10.65
23.26
15.71
Deaths in Prussia
per 1,000.
1898-1902.
1903-07-
Under
IS-
Over
IS-
Total.
Under
15-
Over.
IS-
Total.
Christians, -
Jews,
10.43
3-26
lO.II
11.03
20.54
14.29
9.09
2.63
9.69
11.30
18.78
13-93
cent. Between the years 1903-1907 the Jewish death-
rate for adults over 15 years is higher than that of
Christians (11.30 per cent, against 9.69 per cent.).
C. Decrease in numbers a result of lower birth-rate.
In consequence of their low birth-rate the Jews in
many countries are behind the Christians in natural
increase.
The table ^ overleaf shows us that this is felt
most in Prussia and Bavaria; in Russia they are
slightly behind (Russian Christians being extra-
ordinarily fruitful), but in Austria, Hungary and
Algiers the Jews multiply to a greater extmt than the
Christians.
^ In certain towns, instead of natural increase we find natural
decrease-, in Br^lau, for instance, in 1906 there were 339 still-
born Jewish children against 306 bom alive. maMag a decrease of
1.62 p«r, ceiit. to the Jewish population.
I ' F
82
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
NATURAL INCREASE OF THE JEWISH POPULATION
PER THOUSAND INHABITANTS, COMPARED
WITH OTHER CREEDS.
Country-
Births.
Deaths.
Natural
Increase.
Prussia,
1907
17*37
33-96
13.96
18.31
3*41
15-65
Bavaria,
1906
18.47
35*91
12.36
21.39
6.11
14.52
Roumania, -
1896-1902
36.63
40.22
20.84
28.00
15*79
12.22
Eur. Russia
(not includ-
ing Finland
and Poland),
1901
36.14
52.16
18.08
32.51
18.06
19.65
Austria,
1900
32-65
37-23
18.37
25*52
14.28
11.71
Hungary, -
1900
33-81
39*34
16.98
27.21
16.83
12.13
f
Europ,
Europ.
Europ.
Algiers, i
1903
43*25
31*55
20.58
23*14
22.67
8.41
Moham.
Moham.
Moham.
1
30.56
19.66
10.90
If we analyse conditions in Prussia we find that the
excess of births over deaths amounts on an average
annually per thousand :
1820-66.
1888-92.
1893-97.
1898-
X902,
1903 - 07 .
/dncluding illegiti-
Christians
mate children and
—
13*77
15*05
15.65
15.02
1 children of mixed
'v
Jews
1 marriages according
to religion of the
16,80
8.04
6.88
5.42
3-86
'^.mother, - - -
The excess of births has thus increased with the
Christians until within the last five years, whereas
with the Jews it has rapidly decreased.
THE DECLINING BIRTH-RATE 83
The small increase of Jews in Germany and the
allied States is evidenced in the census retims, which
shows how the Jews are a dwindling fraction of the
population. Thus, in every 10,000 of the total
population the Jews numbered :
In
0
CXI
M
1880.
x8go.
1900.
1905.
Germany,
_
125
124
1x5
104
100
Prussia,
-
132
133
124
II4
no
Bavaria,
104
lOI
96
89
85 '
This decrease in numbers would be still greater if the
Jews of Germany were not reinforced by immigrants
from Eastern Europe.
The deduction from all this is that, inasmuch as the
Jews until a few decades ago were remarkably prolific,
they have lost this quality wherever they have acquired
culture and prosperity — ^when they have thrown them-
selves into the cultural and industrial life of the land.
The four different sections which we classified in our
introduction, as marking the various grades of dis-
integration among the Jews, may be taken as so
many stages in matrimonial fertility, from large
famihes down to families of four, ^ee and two
children. With the first class — ^the poor orthodox
Jews of Eastern Europe— families of from five to ten
children are the rule, while with the rich Jews of the
capitals the two-in-family rule holds good. It follows
that wherever the Jews have to recruit principally
from this class their numbers must always decrease in
proportion to the general population. This is the
fact to-day in all the countries of Western Exirope
88
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
the registered births and deaths during the years
1891-1900 (315,073 births, 166,966 deaths), we have
here a deficit of 108,949 souls, which must be attributed
to emigration. This emigration is directed almost
exclusively to the United States ; America has become
such a familiar idea to the Gahcian Jew, and the
voyage thither such an every-day matter, that he
talks of it almost as of an ordinary business journey.
Several, small Galician towns have been reduced to
half their number of Jewish inhabitants by emigration,
and there is hardly a Jew in Galicia who has not some
relative in America.
Emigration on a large scale from Roumania started
in 1899, the incentive being the passing of legal restric-
tions which still further reduced the pohtical and
industrial rights of the Jews. An of&cial report of the
Roumanian minister of the Interior {Moniteur Officiel
du 13 a6ut, 1906) gives the number of Jews who left
Roumania during the seven years 1899-1905 as
55,000. Of these about 40,000 went to the United
States, the remainder to England and other countries.
Jewish emigration to the United States usually takes
the following form : the young working members of a
family go out first, who, when they succeed in making
a hving, send for the rest of the family to come out
after them. For example, in the year 1907-1908,
among 103,387 Jewish emigrants, no less than 63,492
had received iheir boat tickets from relatives who
were already living in America. This labouring
emigrant class varies in age from 14 to 45 years ; in
1907-08 69.05 per cent, of the total of Jewish emigrants
belonged to this class, while 25.16 per cent, were
children under 14 years, and only 5.79 per cent, over
45 years.
DISPERSION
By far the greatest number of Jews settle in the
State of New York in preference to any other. In
1907-08 there emigrated to
New York, 62,697 Jews.
Pennsylvania, - - - - 10,193 „
Massachusetts, - - - - 6,581 „
Illinois, ----- 5,928 „
New Jersey, 3,696 „
Ohio, ------ 2,228 „
Maryland, ----- 1,682 „
Connecticut, 1.599 ..
Missouri, i .570
Texas, ------ 1,206 „
and all the other States together received only 6,107
Jewish immigrants.
The professions they belonged to were :
Independent professions (musicians,
actors, teachers), - - - 713
Skilled trades, - - - - 36,193
Varied callings, - - - - 19,759
Of no calling (including children), 46,722
Of the trained industries, meil’s tailors predominated
with 14,882 ; after these came :
Cabinet-makers, - - - - 2,907
Bootmzikers,- ' - - - - 1,981
Ladies’ tailors (male and female), - 2,310
Clerks and bookkeepers, - - 1,968
Painters and glaziers, - - - 1,257
Seamstresses, - - - - 1,268
Of the “ varied callings,” servants formed the largest
contingent, 7.463 persons ; after these, day labourers.
go
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
6,824 persons ; pedlars and brokers, 2,416 ; and 1,896
agricultural labourers.
The result of the heavy immigration is seen in the
extraordinary increase in the Jewish population of the
United States. This is estimated
In the Year 1818 by Mordechai M. Noah -
1824 „ Salomon Etting
1826 Isaac C. Harby
1840 The American Almanac -
1848 M. A. Berk - - -
1880 Wm. B. Hackenburg
1888 Isaac Markens
1897 David Sulzberger -
1902 The American Jewish Year
Book - - -
1907
at 3,000
6,000
6,000
15.000
50.000
230.000
400.000
937,800
1,136,240
1.777.185
Of this population no fewer than 1,000,000 live in
New York, which has thus the largest Jewish popula-
tion of any town in the world. After New York the
towns which contain the largest numbers of Jews in
the United States are Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston
and Baltimore.
B. Emigration to England.
After the United States, England receives the
greatest flow of Jewish emigrants. We have no
reliable figures, as the English immigration statistics
are registered not by religion but by national extrac-
tion ; even so they convey a false impression, because
many of the immigrants only stop in England in transit
for America. Thus when the official English immigra-
tion report® says that the immigrants from Russia,
^From the American Jewish Year Book for 5667 (Philadelphia,
1908).
* Compare Report to the Board of Trade on Emigration and Immi’-
gration during 1904, London, 1905.
DISPERSION
91
Poland and Roumania are practically all Jews, and
puts their numbers at ;
1900.
1901.
1902.
1903.
1904.
Russians and Poles,
Roumanians,
25.633
3,216
20,914
1,162
28,511
1,282
30,046
565
46.095
513
these numbers are considerably higher than the actual
number of Jewish immigrants who settle permanently
in England. This can be seen from the following
figures ; the number of Jews in England in 1905 was
fairly accurately estimated at 250,000, in 1880 at
40.000, and in 1891 at about 101,000. Taking into
account the excess of births over deaths, the number
of immigrants during the years 1891-1905 can only
have been about 100,000, while the number of registered
immigrant Russians and Poles from 1891-1904 is given
as 259,406.^ London has the greatest number of Jews,
150,000 ; then comes Manchester with 30,000, Leeds with
25.000, Glasgow and Liverpool each with about 7,000.
C. General summary.
In the following table an attempt has been made to
show the effect of emigration and immigration on the
countries most affected. Here we see that from 1881 to
1908 the number of Jews who left their native countries
amounted to 2,136,000; the principal immigrant
country being the United States with 1,700,000
immigrants ; the principal emigrant country Russia,
with 1,545,000 emigrants. The United Stat^, England,
Canada, and South Africa together received 1,950,000
Jews, i.e. 91.4 per cent, of the total immigrants.
i Man y Russian Jews 'bound for America stay a few weeks or
moaths in London from poverty and from the conditions imposed by
some of the steamship companies. See Halpem, Die Judiscken
Arbeiter in London.
92
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
During the years 1881-1908 Jews migrated
From
To
Russia.
Austria-
Hungary.
Rou-
mania.
Other
Countries.
Total.
United States,
1,250,000
250,000
75,000
125,000
1,700,000
Canada, -
- '
30,000
5.000
—
5iOOo
40,000
Argentine,
1
20,000
—
—
10,000
30,000
America, -
-
0
8
0
0
CO
H
255,000
75,000
140,000
1.770,000
England,
150,000
10,000
20,000
10,000
190,000
Germany,
^ 1
iSsOoo
25,000
—
—
40,000
France, -
-
30,000
10,000
—
10,000
50,000
Belgium,-
-
5,000
—
—
5.000
10,000
West Europe,
-
200,000
45.000
20,000
25,000
290,000
South Africa, -
.
15,000
5,000
20,000
Egypt, -
-
10,000
—
1 —
10,000
20,000
Africa, -
-
25,000
1 15,000
40,000
Palestine,
-
20,000
5.000
1,000
10,000
36,000
Total,
-
i, 545 iOOO
305,000
96,000
190,000
2,136,000
Statistics of the immigration of Jews to Gennany
are not to hand. We know, however, that immigra-
tion from Eastern Europe must go on, from the following
circumstances : in the year 1900 it was ascertained
that there were 41,113 alien Jev^ in Germany, of which
number 17,410 had been bom in Austria, 12,752 in
Russia and Finland. In Pmssia the census of 1905
registered 38,844 foreign Jews ; of these 16,665 were
Austrian, 13,185 Russian, and 3,386 Hungarian. On
1st December, 1900, Berlin alone contained 11,651
foreign Jews among a total of only 35,142 foreigners.
The kingdom of Saxony receives many Austrian Jews ;
thus in the year 1905 in Leipzig, of 7.676 Jews, 4,843
( = 63.09 per cent.) were foreign (3,010 Austrian, 1,401
Russian, 117 Hmgarian, 315 other nationalities). In
DISPERSION
93
Dresden, of 3,514 Jews, 1,715 ( = 48.80 per cent.) were
foreign. In Munich in the year 1905, of 10,056 Jews,
2,388 ( = 25.74 per cent.) were foreign bom (mostly
Russian and Austrian) ; of the Christians only 4.3 per
cent, were foreign bom.
D. The influence of emigration on assimilation.
The migration en masse of the Jews of Eastern
Europe to these highly developed Enghsh-spealdng
countries means something more than mere change of
locality. Though the full significance has hardly yet
been appreciated, there is no doubt that this migration
is of the very greatest importance for the future of
Judaism, especially as there is no sign of its abating.
It means bringing into play aU the latent strength and
co-operation of millions of intelligent Jews in the
ferment of life in the large towns, in great industries
and manufactures, in the trade of the world — ^Jews who
had hitherto eked out the most penurious existence in
the villages and small towns of their native undevdoped
countries. It means an advance from poverty and
misery to prosperity and security. It means the rais-
ing of politically oppressed and degraded men to the
dignity of free independent citizens of a free country.
It means, finally, the substitution of the most highly
developed and advanced surroundings in the world
for those of a civilisation still blankly unenlightened.
In proportion as the Jewish immigrant advances in
prosperity, the ties which bind the Jew of Eastern
Europe so closely to his brethren tend to fall away.
It is true that the Jewish quarter of New York is little
else than a Russian or Galician Ghetto on American
soil, and its inmates toil under the sweating system
as tailors, cobblers and carpenters for their daily
bread ; but how long will this be so ? The Jew will
94
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
not remain for ever in the sweated workrooms. At
first, in order to get a footing in an absolutely foreign
economic system, he cannot do without them : it has
been rightly said that these workrooms turn out not
so much work as workers ; that is to say, the Jew is
here prepared for American economic life. But he is
on the watch for other activities, his present ones are
but a stepping-stone to better things. As soon as he
is able to leave the East End, and find a foothold
outside, thus climbing the first nmg of the economic
ladder, he submits himself absolutely to the influence
of American culture, which in a few decades, or at
most in one or two generations, lures him away from
Judaism, or at any rate, so weakeBs its hold that a
formal profession is all thaf remains of it. A Jew
emigrates to the United States to-day a strictly ortho-
dox Rabbi, speaking only Yiddish ; after the lapse of
ten years, pnce outside the East End, he has become
tolerant, has learnt to murder the English language,
and attends a slightly modernised synagogue service.
After twenty years he often attends reform s3magogues
with their Sunday Sabbaths, speaks English by pre-
ference, and gives his children a modem American
education. Yhus the, children, or at best th&^andT
children, grow up with little or no Jewish ddmmunal
feding, and the sHghtest inducement will take thenn
over to Christianil^, It is now only thirty years since*
these imn^&ations began, and the immigrants aje
st^^r tM^lost part in the first generation ; the fate
ofTHg^cond and third generations will show what
to-d^ can only be surmised.
Rapid as is the' process of assimilation once outside
the Ghetto wa^, transforming a Jew of our* often-
quoted “ first tl^ ” into one of the thirds, or fourth
DISPERSION
95
within the space of two or tliree decades, the process
within the East End boundaries is much slower. The
immigrant here rarely raises himself above the second
class, and it is only his children and grandchildren
who become assimilated.
E. Inland migrations.
Of less importance than these migrations from
country to country are the mland migrations, i.e.
changes of residence within the country itself ; though
similarly here the Jews naturally seek a district where
the economic pressure is less heavy — ^with possibilities
of greater prosperity — ^thus mdirectly tending to
assimilation. In Russia, the broad lands of which seem
to invite such migra&ns, tiiey. are prevented by law,
which denies all Jews (with the exception of merchants
of the firgt guild, those holding uffiv^ity degrees,
and master mechanics) the right of moving out of
Poland, or the fifteen o^er govemmental#‘*divisions
where alone they a^alfowed to live. Within this
so-^lled Pale of Settlement there^ve 4,899^27 Jews,
that is 93.^3 per cent, of the whole of Rus^m Jeyry,
though this Pale of .Settlement is only ope
. third part of the whole Russian Territory. Ip
' We seeASwv rinequaEy divided the Je%i§h population
of Russia is from the following figures
InPdIand, - - - - .
In the 15 Governmental Depart- % 3
ments Pale of Settlement, . ii.ill*
In the 3 Governmental Depart-
ments, Kwland, livland, St.
Petersburg, - - -
In the*remaining 32 Governmental, ./_ *
Department! of European Russia, o.i§
'JOjI^icent.
96
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
Inland migrations of the Jews from the overcrowded
Pale of Settlement to other parts of Russia would be
to their greatest possible advantage, but the Russian
Government insists on their remaining within the
prescribed areas.
The opposite policy prevails in Italy, where the Jews
avail themselves freely of the right of change of
domicile, and constitute the most mobile element of
the population. Only 61.5 per cent, of the Jews
(according to the census of 1901) were bom in their
present domicile. They migrate principally from
Northern Italy to Rome and the Southern States.
In Galicia the Jews tend to move from West to East.
Dr. Buzek, Docent at Lemberg University,^ ascertained
that in the year 1869 there were 147,356 Jews in East
Galicia, 428,077 in West Galicia, whereas in 1900 there
were 192,371 in West Galicia and 618,751 in East
Galicia. In 1900 the Jews constituted 12.9 per cent,
of the whole population of East Galicia ; 6.9 per cent,
of the whole, and 29.8 per cent, of the town population
of West Galicia.
In Germany the Jews migrate from the country-
side to the towns (cp. the similar tendency of the
general German population), but, unlike the Galician
movement, its trend is not from West to East, but
from East to West. Between the years 1871 and
1905 the number of Jews in the East Provinces — ^East
Prussia, West Prussia, Pomerania, and Posen — de-
creased from 116,075 ( = 22.67 cent, of the whole
Jewish population in Germany) to 69,785 ( = 11.48 per
cent, of the whole Jewish population in Germany), a
decrease of 46,290 soids ; of these, 31,549 in the Province
1 Quoted by Koriis* " The MoveIIxe^t of the Jewish Population
in Galicia,*' Jewish StaUsHcs, voL i. p. 31 1,
DISPERSION
97
of Posen alone, the numbers there being reduced
from 61,982 to 30>433- Against this, the number of
Jews in the West Provinces (Saxony, Hanover, West-
phalia, Hessen, Nassau, Rhineland) has increased from
110,765 ( = 21.63 per cent, of the total Jewish popula-
tion in Germany) in 1871 to 149,812 ( = 24.65 per cent,
of the total Jewish population of Germany) in 1905.
The Jewish population has increased more especially
in Berlin and the Province of Brandenberg (to which
the suburbs and environs of Berlin belong), namely
from 47489 to 139,320, i.e. 91,831 souls. Berlin
attracts an ever-increasing number of Prussian Jews.
The following table shows that whereas in 1816 only
Z.72 per cent, of all Prussian Jews resided in Berlin,
the percentage has steadily increased till in 1905 it
reached 24.15 per cent. If we include with Berlin its
29 suburbs, we find that of a total population of
2,993,441 there were in 1905 about 130,000 Jews :
i.e. 31.75 per cent, of all Prussian Jews live in Berlin.
Year.
In Berlin were
PekCENTAGE of JEW'S IN
Berlin to Total Number
OP Prussian Jews.
Non -Jews.
Jews.
Non-Jews. '
Jews.
1816,
- ^
194.372
3.373
1.89%
2.72 %
1843,
-
-
341.457
8.351
2-24%
4-04 %
1861,
-
-
528;6i8
18,953
2.90 %
7*44 %
1867,
-
-
585.054
24,189
2.47%
7-72 %
1871,
-
-
786,382
36.105
3 * 2 $ %
11 - 09 %
1880,
-
1,068,414
53.916
14.82 %
1885,
-
-
1,250,904
64,383
448%
17-56%
1890,
-
-
1.499.508
79,286
5-07 %
21-31 %
1895.
-
-
1.591.152
86,152
5.06%
22.69 %
1900,
-
-
1,796,642
92,206
5-27 %
23-50 %
1905,
1,941,255
98,893
24-15 %
CHAPTER VI.
CONGESTION IN THE LARGE TOWNS.
A. Causes of the rapid assimilation of Jews in large
towns.
Laxge towns axe one of the great factors of assimila-
tion — ^veritable hot-beds of the process, which goes
on more actively and rapidly there than in other parts
of the country. There are many reasons for this.
First of all, the capitalised economic life of the day
is there focussed; there are to be found the banks,
the great markets, the centres of exchange. There
hundreds of thousands of Christians are occupied in
the same callings as Jews, whence the obliteration of
that diversity of occupation which is still felt in the
country between Jew and Christian. Further, the
large towns are the homes of irreligion, or at least of
religious indifference ; Christianity, which exerts a
powerful influence over the individual in villages and
small towns, is here of little accoimt, and the religious
differences between Jew and Chrifttiajji^^e hardly
noticeable. On the other hand, largeto^WBr^wJflk
Eheir public schools, universities, and similar in^itu-
tions, offer exceptional opportunities for acquiring
higher education and culture, which, as we shill see,
render the Jew especially receptive to assimilative
influence and apt to renounce his Judaism.
CONGESTION IN THE LARGE TOWNS gg
In a small town the Jewish convert to Christianily
must be prepared to create something of a scandal, and
probably to be cut by the majority of those with
whom he has hitherto associated ; whereas, in a large
town, where people meet more easily, he can make
new social connections without mudi difficulty, not
only among other converted Jews, but with professmg
Jews and Christians. The Christians are ignorant for
the most part of how recent is the conversion, and
the Jews themselves are often so far assimilated, that
they readily forgive the step, especially if it goes no
further than allowing the children to be baptised. In
addition to this, it should be noted that the forma-
lities to be gone through in coimection with the actual
ceremony of conversion are much less rigorous in large
towns. Further, a large town, where rehgious sects
abound — agnostics, theists and dissenters of all sorts
— puts no obstacle in the way of a dissenting Jew, who
would be looked upon as a wicked unbeliever in a
village or small town. The broad-mindedness of the
town dweller is the greatest contrast to the limited
horizon of the villager.
B. Statistics of the centralisation of Jews in large
towns.
Seeing that large towns offer such special oppor-
tunities for the assimilation of the Jewish to the
Gentile population, we must give particular attention
"to the -departure of the Jews from villages and small
towns, and to their centralisation in the large^dties. It
is true that Jews in the Diaspora have al\ra.37s been
mainly townspeople ; in proportion to the Quistians
they have alwa 3 rs been scantily represented in the open
cotmtry, and this even in countries where they are at
100 THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
perfect liberty to settle where they will. Thus there
were :
Jews.
Op Total
Town Population.
In
Year. |
In the
Towns.
In the
Country.
Jews.
Christians.
Denmark,
1901
3,310
166
94-98%
39.06%
Galicia, - - -
1900
274,478
536,893
34-04%
7-30%
Prussia, - - -
1905
351,550
57,951
85-85%
44.89%
Servia, -
1900
5,726
3
99-95%
13.88%
19.39%
28.30%
Bulgaria, -
1900
32,482
i,i8i
Norway, - - -
1900
565
77
87.90%
In Russia there are indeed stringent legal restrictions
limiting the number of Jews in villages. Thus we
fold that there were in 1897 50.5 per cent, of the
total number of Jews as compared with 11.8 per cent,
of the total number of non-Jews who were town-
dwellers. Perhaps the crowding of the Jews in the
towns can be yet more clearly appreciated when we
remember that the Jews constitute only 4.15 per cent,
of the total population of Russia, but 15.6 per cent,
of the town population.
Characteristic of the present migratory movement
is the emigration of the Jews from towns to larger
towns. The reason for this is the change in economic
conditions. Just as the Jews used to seek the towns
as being the centres of trade, they now troop to the
large towns, because the development of international
trade and commerce and the rapid advance of industry
and manufacture are becoming more and more centred
in the large towns, while trade between the small towns
is fast losing its old importance. From the Grand
Duchy of Hessen we have convincing statistics in proof
CONGESTION IN THE LARGE TOWNS loi
of titiis movement. Of the whole number of Jews
in Hessen there Uved :
In Actual Figures. |
Percentage.
1828.
1871.
1905.
x8a8.
1871.
1905.
In Places with less
than 2000 Inhabs.,
13.617
13*063
7.871
64.13
51*49
31*86
In Places with 2000—
10,000 Inhabitants,
In Places with over
10,000 Inhabitants,
5 i 443
5.’846
7.789
25-63
23*03 :
31-54
2,176
6,464
9.039
10.24
1
25.48
36.60
We may say that the more highly developed are the
trade and commerce of a country, the greater the pro-
portion of Jews in its large towns. Of the Jewish
immigrants to England, 6o per cent, choose London,
and 30 per cent. Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow and
Liverpool as their domicile. In the United States,
about 60 per cent, of the Jewish immigrants settle in
New York. In Germany, according to the census of
1900, 42.73 per cent, of aH the Jews, against only
15.90 per cent, of all the Christians, Hved in large
towns {i.e. towns of over 100,000 inhabitants). In
Prussia (1905) there lived :
Inhabitants
In Actual Figures.
Percentage.
Christians.
Jews.
Chris-
tians.
Jews.
In cities with more than 200,000
4.748.565
188,926
12.87
46.13
**
„ 100,000-200,000
2,484,583
36,588
6.75
8.93
f >
„ 50,000-100,000
1.683,9*3
18,269
4.56
4.46
f*
„ 30,000- 50,000
1.141,976
15,007
3*66
*»
„ 20,000- 30,000
1.432.338
16,960
3.88
4.14
*»
„ 10,000- 20,000
1,6x5.469
17*459
4*38
4.26
,, 5,000- 10,000
1,516,6*3
23,618
4.II
5-76
99
„ less than 5,000
1,932,978
34*723
5*24
8.47
Total No. in towns.
16.556.455
351*550
44.89
85-85
„ „ villages.
20.3*7,368
57.951
55.11
14-15
102
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
The large towns of Prussia thus contained 55.06 per
cent, of all Prussian Jews, but only 19.62 per cent, of
the total of its Christians. In Bavaria in 1900, in
towns of over 20,000 inhabitants, Jews were 46.2 per
cent, of their total number, Christians 21.9. These
great numerical differences are easily explained when
we bear in mind the trade census of 1895, when it was
ascertained that 33.15 per cent, of those engaged in
trade lived in large towns. The industrial pursuits
determine the place of residence. Nor must we ignore
that there are other motives for migration — ^the access
to higher education for the children, the possibility
of greater comfort and enjoyment, and the greater
freedom of action offered by a large town. Anti-
Semitism in the Eastern Provinces is also responsible
for the departure of the Jews thence to Berlin.
In Roumania fhe respective percentage of the total
number of Jews and Christians is 72.27 per cent, and
13.34 per cent, in the 32 capitals of the departments.
In Italy in 1901, of a total of 35,617 Jews, 30,792, or
86.4 per cent., lived in the 69 chief towns : of these
20,698, or 58.11 per cent., in the six towns, Rome,
Milan, Turin, Florence, Leghorn, and Venice.
In Bulgaria, where in 1900 no fewer than 96.49 per
cent, of all the Jews lived m towns, 45.82 per cent,
alone lived in the three towns, Sophia, Rustschuk, and
Philippopel. In the Austro-Hungarian kingdom, in
towns of more than 50,000 inhabitants, there lived in
1900 :
Of all J ews. Of all Christians .
Austria, - - 23.33 xo.60
Hungary, - - 26.11 6.39
The relatively thickest Jewish population is found in
the towns of the Russian Pale of Settlement and in
CONGESTION IN THE LARGE TOWNS 103
Galicia and Bukovina. In Russia the town of Ber-
ditschew with 41,617 Jews has the highest percentage
of Jews, i.e. 78 per cent, of the whole population ; in
15 other towns with over 10,000 Jews, and in 31 towns
with over 5,000, the Jews constitute more than 50 per
cent, of the whole population. In Galicia the town of
Brody with 11,854 Jews has the highest percentage
of Jews, i.e. 72.1 per cent, of the whole population ;
besides Brody, there are nine other large towns in which
they constitute the majority of the population.^ In
Palestine, Jerusalem, Safed and Tiberias are largely
Jewish towns. In Salonica also they are in a majority.
C. Preference for the Capitals.
Capitals exert the greatest attraction for Jews,
because they are pre-eminently the centres of trade
and industry, and also of those other callings with
which Jews love to identify themselves ; journalism,
art, literature, etc.
In actual figures, the following
greatest number of Jews :
towns have the
New York, - - - .
1,000,000
Warsaw, - - - - -
250,000
Budapest,
169,000
Odessa,
150,000
London,
150,000
Vienna, - - - - -
147,000
Chicago, Philadelphia, Berlin and Paris have about
100,000 each. In these ten towns there live about
Roumania the following towns have a Jewish majority:
Herta with 66.2 per cent., Milhaileni with 65,6 per cent., Harlan with
59.6 per cent., Falticeni with 57 per cent., Dorohoi with 53.6 per
cent., Botosani with 51.8 per cent, and Jassy with 50.8 per cent.
104
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
one-fifth, and in the first six about one-sixth of the
entire Jewish population of the world.
NUMBER OF JEWS IN THE CAPITALS OF VARIOUS
COUNTRIES.
In the
In
Jews.
Non- Jews.
Jews to
every 100
Inhabi-
Living in Capi-
tal OP Country
IN Question.
Capital of
Year
tants of
the
Capital.
Per 1,000
Jews.
Per 1,000
Non-
Jews.
Austria,
I goo
146,926
1,528,031
8.77
123
61
Roumania, -
1899
43*274
13-30
161
50
Italy, -
1901
7,121
655,200
I 08
200
20
Poland,
1901
254.712
457,276
35.77
193
57
Hungary, -
1900
166,198
23.63
195
29
Prussia,
u.sS..
1905
98,893
1*941*255
4.S5
241
53
1908
1,000,000
59,065
3,300,000
23-25
563
39
Netherlands,
England and
1899
451,788
11.56
568
90
Wales,
1908
140,000
6,581,327
2. IX
560
156
Denmark, -
New South
Wales(Syd-
1901
2,826
397*749
0.70
S13
163
ney).
1901
5*137
482,763
1-05
797
357
Bulgaria,
Victoria (Mel-
1900
8,720
59,069
12.86
259
16
bourne), -
1901
5*103
488,853
1.04
863
411
D. London and New York.
It is noticeable that in the towns which receive the
greatest influx of immigrants, namely New York and
London, the Jews congregate in one particular quarter.
Thus in London in 1901, 85 per cent, of the Russian
and Polish immigrants were hving in the borough of
Stepney, and in New York the great majority of immi-
grants are concentrated in the East End. This
concentration may be put down partly to religious
motives (prpximity to sjmagogues and Kosher butchers),
though the real reason is undoubtedly that the immi-
CONGESTION IN THE LARGE TOWNS 105
grant Jew — ^ignorant of the English language and of
English and American life — ^instinctively seeks inter-
course among his own people, and wishes to be as near
them as possible. But, in proportion as he learns
English and begins to get familiar with English and
American life, he finds the East End with its sweated
workrooms too narrow for him, and seeks emplo5unent
outside. The East End serves as a sort of distiller, in
which all those immigrants who are too old or unable
to fit themselves into the new life, sink to the bottom.
The others, and especially the second generation, flow
out of the reservoir. The overcrowding of the East
End is often cited as a proof that Jews like to con-
gregate together ; but this is not the case. The Jews
crowd into the East End because in the first years
their only chance of a livelihood is there; but their
desire is not to remain everlastingly in the sweated
industries. They aspire to be independent merchants
and business men, and this aspiration wiU carry them
out of the East End, even though that district should
remain for many decades the refuge of the new
immigrant.
SECTION III.
THE VARIOUS PHASES OF ASSIMILATION.
CHAPTER VII.
ADOPTION OF THE LANGUAGE OF THE
COUNTRY.
’'A. Changes of language in the history of the Jews.
Language, handed dovm from generation to genera-
tion, is one of the most precious of spiritual possessions.
It directs the thought of the child’s mind into a fixed
groove, the result of the mental effort of former
generations, the -written and printed masterpieces of
which become, later on, the principal intellectual food
of the child. All culture is bound up -with language,
and only accessible through it.
Theje-ws in the course of their history have had
many changes of language. Hebrew ceased to be the
general national language after the fifth century B.C.,
when it gave place to Aramaic (in its two forms Chaldaic
in Palestine, S3niac in Babylon), and later to Greek.
Hebrew only ceased to be a colloquial language at the
end of the second century A.D., having been raieaiad
in Palestine at the time of the Maccabees. cXbc
cultured Jew of Alexandria in the first and second
centuries a.d. was an exception if he spoke Hebrew
fluently, besides Greek. As a -written languE^e it
never died put, though the prevailing language of the
Babylonian Talmud and of Jewish literature in Babylon
until ^ tenth century was not Hebrew but
Aramak.-
no
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
A great change came in the seventh and eighth cen-
turies, when Islam triumphantly spread the culture of
the Arabs from Arabia across North Africa to Spain.
The Jews, taking up this movement with enthusiasm,
gave up Aramaic in favour of Arabic. The poets and
sages of the Jews at that time wrote most of their works
in Arabic, though Hebrew — cultivated as a literary
language in the schools of Sura and Pumbedita — ^was
not forgotten, and was much used in that capacity.
For about five centuries Arabic remained the principal
colloquial language of the Jews till it gave way to the
Latin languages — ^to Spanish in Spain under the
dominion of Christian Castile, to French in France.
The oldest known French elegy (written at the end of
the thirteenth centiuy) was written by a Jew on the
burning of Jewish martyrs ; and in Spain the Spanish
language took such firm root among the Jews that
after their exile in 1492 they took it with them to their
new homes, and speak it in European Turkey, Asia
Minor, Syria and Palestine to this day. It is no longer
pure Spanish, but is mixed with many Turkish and
Hebrew words, and is called " Spaniohsch.” ^
As Spaniohsch is to Spanish, so is the “ Yiddish ”
or “ Jargon ” ® of Eastern Europe to German. The
^ Spaniolisch is spoken not only within the present Turkish
dominions but also in those countries which were formally under
Turkish rule. In Bulgaria in 1900 Spaniolisch was the every-day
language of 96.76 per cent, of the Jews ; in Bosnia and Herzegovina
in 1895 oi 69.75 per cent, of the Jews ; in Servia in igoo of 26.95
per cent, of the Jews.
* Latterly many protests have been raised by Jews against the
designation “ Jargon ” — ^jargon signifying a mutilation, and con-
veying a false impression of an organically developed language. But
** Jargon ** has, we think, become the generally accepted name for
“ Yiddish,” and as such carries with it no derogatory extraneous
significance.
ADOPTION OF LANGUAGE OF COUNTRY iii
Jews in Germany, as we learn from old authorities
and contemporary writings, spoke the same German as
the Christians up to the thirteenth and fourteenth cen-
turies. Not till they were shut up in Ghettos — ^thus
falling out of touch with Christian culture and being
thrust back on themselves — did their language b^in
to differ from that of the Christians. It kept to the
old forms (Mittelhochdeutsch) and had introduced into
it many Hebrew words (especially for all incidents of
religious or specially Jewish life), for Hebrew had never
ceased being the literary language of the Jews. Dming
the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the German Jews
emigrated in vast numbers to the Kingdomof Poland,
t aking their colloquial " Yiddish ” with than, and to
this they have adhered to the present day : while in
Germany itself — since the beginning of the emancipa-
tion, i.e. since the middle of Ae eighteenth century, it
was given up in favour of pmre German, and from the
beginning of the nineteenth century, was no longer
used at all.
B. Causes of the changes of language.
How was it that within a hundred years “ Jargon ”
disappeared altogether from Germany ? It is explicable
only in view of the equally rapid change in the economic
conditions of the Jews. Till the year 1750 nothing but
a number of pedlars and pawnbrokers, they b^an, at
the be ginning of the nineteenth century, to be bankers
and promoters of every new industry — ^the pioneers of
the dawning capitalistic era ! The numerous dealir^s
they had with Christians made the acquiring of the
German language — a luxury they had been able
to dispense with in their previous petty callings — an
absolute necessity. And along with- t^e economic
H2
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
motive came the introduction of compulsory schooling
and the establishment of state education — ^both of
great importance for the promotion of German.
As was the case with German in the eighteenth cen-
tury, so with former changes of language among the
Jews — we find economic causes the prima mohilia.
The extension of their economic activities brought
about the adoption of Aramaic when this was the pre-
vailing language in Western Asia : similarly when,
later, Greek became the universal language, and the
seafaring Jewish merchants of S 3 nia and Eg37pt were
unfamiliar with it, they adopted Greek as their language.
So in turn it became necessary to learn Arabic, Spanish,
French and German when the Jews became the carriers
of trade, bearing the goods of the Orient to Spain,
France and Germany. In the present day we see how
the Jewish emigrants from Eastern Europe to England
and America are forced to give up Yiddish in favour of
English as soon as they once get outside the Jewish
quarters in New York and London and set up business
for themselves; the same thing happens with the
Russian Jew outside the Pale of Settlem^t, while
even within the Pale, all those Jews who have deal-
ings with Christians in a large way of trade and
industry are bound to learn the language of the
country.
C. The spread of Yiddish.
Though Yiddish has suffered much from the emigra-
tion from Eastern Europe and the changes in European
economic conditions, it still remains the language of
the great majority of Jews. In Russia, Russian Poland,
Galicia and Roumania it is the mother tongue of about
^x millions ; in England and the Colonies and America
ADOPTION OF LANGUAGE OF COUNTRY 113
of a further million, and it is both written and printed
(in Hebrew characters). Though a great number of
these millions have at any rate some knowledge of the
language of the country and of Hebrew, Yiddish
remains the dominating language — ^the mother tongue.
In all the Jewish quarters of Russian and Galician towns
Yiddish is used on the hoardings and shops — ^Yiddish
is the language of secular literature and of the news-
papers.
In Russia we learn from the census of 1897 that of
■a total of 5,215,805 Jews, 5.054,300 ( = 96.90 percent.)
spoke Yiddish as their mother tongue, and only 161,505
had any other mother tongue (Russian, Polish or
German). Within the Pale of Settlement 97.96 per
cent, speak Yiddish as their mother tongue. Beyond
the Pale the percentage falls to 80.4 per cent., so that
even here Yiddish is the prevailing language among
the Israelites, though they are bound to have some
knowledge of Russian also. In Galicia, Yiddish is not
accounted a language in the official statistics, and,
though there is not the slightest doubt that the majority
of Galician Jews speak Yiddish as their mother tongue
primarily, and Polish or Ruthenian only secondarily,
.the statistics give a false impression by registering the
language of the Jews as German, Polish, Ruthenian, etc.
Only thus are the following results explicable, obtained
from the Austrian census of 1900 :
Languages spoken by Jews in Galicia.
German,
Polish,
Ruthenian, -
Other languages, -
17. 1 per cent.
76.6 „
50 „
1-3
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
114
Languages spoken by Jews in the whole
OF Austria.
German, . - . -
34-33 per cent.
Bohemian, Slovak,-
4.72
Polish, _ . - -
50.81
>»
Ruthenian, - - - -
3-35
tj
Italian, . . . _
0.24
>y
Romnanian, - - - -
0.02
>>
Magyar, - - -
O.OI
Other Native Languages,
0.09
Foreign Languages,
6.53
In England and America, Yiddish, wherever it is
used as the mother tongue, becomes influenced by
English forms and idioms, and takes on numerous new
words and phrases. The peculiarity of Yiddish is that
it inflects the Hebrew verb in German fashion, and it ,
does the same with English, thus coining some extra-
ordinary words. Thus Halach (Hebrew for “ to go ”)
becomes halchenen ; “ to let ” becomes verletm, and
so forth. Further, the English words are spelt not
according to their English spelling, but by the sound,
so that very curious-looking words ensue.
D. Extent of the adoption of European languages. .
Jews who have resided some generations in England
and America speak perfect English as their natural
language, just as the Jews in Germany, France and
Italy speak faultless German, French and Italian, and
can barely understand Yiddish, let alone speak it.'
Nevertheless, as in practically every country the Jews
are constantly being recruited from their European
brethren, Jews in aU parts of the world show a pre-
ADOPTION OF LANGUAGE OF COUNTRY 115
ference for German — ^tLe parent language of Yiddish —
and it may be generally accepted that every Jew,
Australian, African or Asiatic, understands some
German from the broken fragments which have come
down to him. Therefore it was that the Zionist Con-
gress — ^made up of delegates from all parts of the world
— chose German for the ofi&cial language of the Congress.
Statistically this prevalence was proved in Hungary
in 1900, when 25.45 per cent. Jews were found to be
using it as their mother tongue, as against 10 per cent,
of the Christians. In Bohemia and Moravia they show
their preference for German by letting their cliildren
attend almost exclusively German schools and imi-
versities (as opposed to CszecMsh), so that, for example,
during the summer term of 1904 the percentage of Jews
at the German University of Prague was 25.7 per cent.,
while that at the Bohemian University of Prague was
only 1.2 per cent. In Bukovina in 1900, 91,907 Jews
out of a total of 96,150 ( = 95.6 per cent.) were speaking
German or Yiddish as their mother tongue, and thus
constituted the major portion of the German-speaking
population of Bukovina, namely 57.6 per cent., so that
without the Jews, Bukovina would lose its German
character.
The German language — ^in its capacity of common
medium of expression for all Jews — has lately
encountered a rival in English. This is the result of
the great influx of Jews into English-speaking countries.
Fifty years ago hardly 100,000 Jews lived in English-
speaking countries ; now almost 2,200,000, or 19.2 per
cent, of all Jewry, are established there. We must
remember, however, that of these 2,200,000 Jews
only about one^haU have as yet adopted English as
their every-day language, while the other half stiH
ii6 THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
speaks Yiddish. The following table is intended to
give a general idea of the languages spoken by the
Jews.
Language of Country.
Number of Jews
in Country.
Number of Jews who speak
this language as Mother-
tongue.
i
(Slavonic, i . e , Russian Polish, 1
Cszechick, Ruthenian, Bui-
garian, Servian), --
6,225,000
400,000
English, - - -
2,200,000
1,100,000
German, -
900,000
1,250,000
Hungarian*,r^_ -
850,000
600,000
Turkish "^nd Arabic,
650,000
250,000
French, - . - -
Dutch, - - - -
■Ttelian, . - . -
150,000
110,000
110,000
40,000
40,000
Other Languages,
400,000
300,000
Jargon 7,000,000
Spaniol. 350,000
11,550,000
11,550,000
Hence we see that of the 11,550,000 Jews in the world
7.350.000 ( = 63.6 per cent.) speak their own dialects
(Yiddish and Spaniolisch), the remaining 4,200,000
( = 36.4 per cent.) speaking pure European languages.
We see also that German is the only language which
is spoken by Jews outside its own province ; in Italy
and Holland the language of the country is equally
that of the Jews, while all the other European lan-
guages are used to a much smaller extent than the
number of Jews resident in the countries would lead
one to expect. Especially striking is the decrepancy
in the Slav countries, where only 400,000 of the
6.225.000 resident Jews, i.e. 7 per cent., habitually
speak the language of the country.
ADOPTION OF LANGUAGE OF COUNTRY 117
E. Change of language and its relation to assimilation.
The overthrow of Yiddish — a work begun in the
eighteenth century, and continued in the nineteenth —
win be consummated in the twentieth century. This
prophecy is based not only on the increasing develop-
ment of capitalism, but on the progress of culture in
Russian Europe and in the East. One of the most
potent reasons for the resistance of the Eastern
European Jew to acquiring the Slav languages, and of
the Ottoman Jew to acquiring Turkish was un-
doubtedly the conviction that the culture and litera-
ture, to which he would thereby gain access was of
a lower standard than his own Hebrew literature and
culture. On the other hand, his anxiety to acquire
the German and English language is directly attribut-
able to the high standard of German and English
culture. The transformation of Russia and Turkey
into constitutional States and their consequent pro-
vision for national education, will do much to induce
the Jews to acquire the Russian and Turkish languages.
But with the overthrow of Yiddish the last barrier
which separated the mass of East European Jews from
modem culture is broken down. The adoption of the
language of the country, which goes, of course, hand
in hand with the adoption of aU the mann^ and
customs of that country, is the first stage to assimila-
tion, and a very important one. It cuts away at a
single stroke the chain by which Jewish tradition was
handed down for centuries in unbroken continuity
from father to child. Children and parents no longer
understand one another. Yiddish — ^the sole language
of the parents — ^is despised by the duldren who attend
the national pubHc schools not only in America and
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
ii8
England, but already to some extent in Eastern
Europe, and this contempt for the language is trans-
ferred not only to those who use it but to everything
which is conveyed to them by means of it. The differ-
ence of language means at the same time difference of
outlook on all Jewish peculiarities and on the Jewish
religion. One itiay say that the Jewish religion is on
firm ground only where Yiddish is the mother tongue.
With the abandonment of Yiddish the way is open for
the triumphant march of capitalism, for the adoption
of universal culture, for the depreciation of Jewish
religion, and finally for intermarriage and conversion.
CHAPTER VIII.
ADOPTION OF COSMOPOLITAN CULTURE.
A. The Jew’s craving for education.
The process of assimilation, beginning with the
adoption of the language of the country, passes into
its second stage with the adoption of Christian {i.e.
universal) education and culture. One reason for this
is that Jews, who are already engaged in social and
commercial intercourse with Christians, find the
attainment of this culture a great asset as a means of
advancement ; but another reason is that Jews are
always eager to seize any opportunity for further
developing the intellect, and turn at once from the
language to its literature. Appreciation of the value
of learning and study is a tradition among Jews to
an extent unequalled perhaps by any other people.
It is noteworthy that already in the time of Mohammed
they were called the “ People of the Book.” Dining
the whole period of the Middle Ages the wealthy Jew
sought a husband for his daughter not from among
the rich, but from the most learned, the greatest
Talmud scholar, and to secure such a one he was wiUing
to make every possible material sacrifice. His ambi-
tion was to have a learned man for a son-in-law, as
the ambition of his present-day descendants in Berlin,
Paris or London is to have for son-in-law some Lord
120
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
or Count. In Poland during the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries, at the time of the great anmigl
fairs (Messe), there used to be a sort of market for
sons-in-law, in which rich Jews sought out the young
Talmud students who most distinguished themselves
in public Talmudic debates and discourses — “ The
Jews used to outbid one another to secure the most
promising young Rabbis for their daughters.” Even
among the very poorest class of Jews in Eastern
Europe, opportunities for learning and study, at any
rate for the sons, is considered so essential that in
Galicia thousands of poor artisans and pedlars willingly
pay one-tenth and even one-sixth of their week’s
earnings (up to one gulden out of about six guldens)
to their son’s " Melamed ” (teacher of Hebrew and the
rudiments of general knowledge). They would rather
starve than that their children should go without
education. This esteem for learning is very apparent
in those countries where compulsory education is not
ILLITERATES.
Per ioo.
,
In
Year.
Of all Persons.
Jews.
M. F.
Non- Jews.
M. F.
Russia,
1897
Of all Ages, -
50.6
71. 1
70,6^
91.2^
Budapest, -
; 1900
Of all Ages, -
15*5
21. 1
20.8 a
*5-9*
Italy,
[ 1901
Over 15 years.
3.0
7-5
42.6
57-0
Bulgaria, -
1902
Married in
1902,
1 4-1
21.3
34-1 •
8i.2»^
Servia,
1900
Of all Ages, -
42.99
83.02
N.S. Wales,
1901
Over 15 years,
3^15
3.81
Victoria, -
1901
From 5-15 „
6.8z
10.00
^The figures have reference only to Roman Catholics.
*The figures have reference only to Greek -Orthodox Christians.
^The figures have reference only to Orthodox Christians.
ADOPTION OF COSMOPOLITAN CULTURE 121
rigidly enforced, and where the attendance of the
children at school depends very much on the inclination
of the parents. Here statistics show that the number
of illiterates among Jews is considerably less than
among Christians. In view of these figures, we must
not forget that the Jews are mainly townspeople and
merchants, and thus need good schooling more urgently
than the village peasant ; and a school education is mudi
more easily obtainable in towns than in country districts.
B. The decline of the Cheder.
Just as philosophy in the Middle Ages was only
“ the handmaid of Theology,” so Jewish learning
until the end of the eighteenth century was confined
to the precincts of religion, entailing a thorough
knowledge of the great mass of Hebrew literature.
Secular knowledge was not only despised, but pro-
scribed. During the reign of Frederick the Great a
yoimg Jewish student (grandfather of the Banker
Bleichroder) was expelled from Berlin for having been
discovered in the act of reading a German book. The
same spirit stiU. prevails in the Jewish educaticmal
institutions of Eastern Europe. The Hebrew School,
called “ Cheder ” (Hebrew for “ Room ”) teaches its
pupils oidy religious and Hebrew subjects. Fot the
teacher (Melamed) and his pupils, the Talmud is the
beginning and the end of knowledge. “Ever3dhing
that man needs to know is to be found in the Talmud,
and whatever is not there it is not necessary to know,”
this is their motto. The language of the country
is not taiught thare, for fear of the consequences to
orthodoxy. It is pathetic to hear of the almost
insuperable obstacles put in the way of lads who seek
to dake their thirst for knowledge by teaching them-
122
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
selves the language and literature of the country they
live in. The Cheder guards the Jewish child from
any contact with modem culture, and it is in its school-
rooms that orthodox Judaism is bom anew from
generation to generation.
The pious Jew of Eastern Europe thinks, and per-
haps knows from experience, that any secular addition
to the Cheder instraction is a danger to orthodoxy.
The schools in Galicia instituted by Baron Hirsch in
1891, which in 1907 employed 181 teachers, and were
attended by about 10,000 pupils,^ had a hard straggle
against the mistrust of the Galician Jews. Although
their curriculum includes a large amount of Hebrew,
many Jews fear that their children may lose their
nationality there, and prefer to bear the burden of the
cost of the Cheder rather than send their sons to the
Hirsch Schools, where not only are there no fees, but
in many casesfood and clothing are providedin addition.
The Alliance Israelite Universelle encountered the same
distrust when, in addition to building Agricultural and
Handicraft Schools, it built Elementary Schools in
Morocco, Bulgaria, European Turkey, Asia Minor, Syria,
Mesopotamia, Tripoh, Eg5^t, Tunis and Persia — schools
attended by 30,000 children (boys and girls), and
entailing an annual expenditure of two million francs.
The Jewish father is less particular about his
daughter’s education ; in his eyes there is no necessity
for it, as it is only the sons who have to know the
Torah ; it is not even right for girls to know about it.
“ This principle ” — ^as Graetz says — " has had disas-
trous results. While every congregation devoted itself
^ Report of the Baxon Hirsch Institution. According to this
Report, between the’years 1891 and 1907 about 9,640,000 Kn. were
expended by the Institution for school organisation.
ADOPTION OF COSMOPOLITAN CULTURE 123
to the support of elementary and higher education for
the male sex, the female sex was systematically kept
in ignorance.” In Russia the majority of Jewish girls
are taught nothing ; by the census of 1897, 49.4 per
cent, of Jewish males, but only 28.9 Jewesses, could
read. In Galicia, where education is compulsory, the
parents willingly send their girls to the pubHc (i.e.
Christian) schools, while they withhold their boys from
them as much as possible. The result is that in general
knowledge the girls are much better informed than
their Cheder-taught brothers. “ It often comes to
this,” says Fleisher,^- “ that in many families there
exists a regular duahsm — ^the male members speak
Yiddish, and the female speak Polish, and the two
cannot understand one another. The result of these
unhealthy conditions is seen in the numerous unhappy
marriages and dissolutions of marriage among the
Galician Jews, and also in the so-called kidnapping
of young girls, who are often only too willing to leave
the parental home and go over to Christianity.” It
is impossible to state more strongly the importance of
the efiEect of education on Jewish conditions.
The Jewish Colonisation Association instituted an
enquiry in the year 1898-99, the results of which were
published under the title Material collected on the
Economic Condition of the Jews in Russia (2 vols.,
St. Petersburg, 1904, Russian). In this it appeared
that 507 places within the Pale of Settlement, with
a Jewish population of 1,420,653, possessed altogether
7,358 Chedarim and Talmud Torah Schools, with
108,289 pupils. At this rate the whole Pale of Settle-
ment would number about 370,000 Cheder pupils ;
1 Inquiry into the state of the Jewish population of Galicia.
Jewish StaUsties, voL L p. 230 (Berlin, 1903)-
124
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
that is, one to every thirteen Jews. In the Government
Province of Kieff alone, an official report for 1900
counted 165,000 Jewish children for whom education
was obligatory. Of these there attended the
Jewisi Elementary Schools,- - 13,115 = 13.0%'!
Christiau Private Schools, - - 710 = 0.7% of children
Christian Public Schools, - - 8,280 = 8.2% |- attending
Gymnasiums, ... - 4,010= 3.9% I schools
Chedarim, - - - - about 75,000 = 74.2% j
so that about 60,000 — ^probably mostly girls — were
having no education at all. Here the influence of the
Cheder is clearly seen.
In recent times the aversion to sending their sons to
the public schools has tended to disappear. In 1880
only 13,618 Jewish boys attended the public schools
of Galicia and Bukovina (with 22,864 Jewish girls) :
in 1900 the number of boys had increased to 36,999
and girls to 50,322. In Galicia, too, Jews are beginning
to attend secondary schools. In the Gymnasium there
attended
Year.
Number of Jews.
Percentage.
1851
mKm
6.1
1876
13-5
1903-1904
19*5
Polytechnics, 1903-1904
28.8
In Bukovina the number of Jewish boys in secondary
schools rose from ijj tjjg year 1864 to
512 „ 1876 to
1645 „ 1903-04.
In Russia also there is a distinct wave which is sen ding
boys to the public secondary schools. This is proved
statistically by the census of 1897, which showed that
ADOPTION OF COSMOPOLITAN CULTURE 125
the new generation of Jews (10-30 years of age) num-
bered six or seven times as many persons who had had
secondary education as the old generation (those over
50 years of age). Altogether there were in 1897,
44 >^ 3 ^ Jews ( = 0.89 per cent.) who had attended
secondary schools.
C. Increasing importance of secular schools.
The process of the decline of the S3retem of specifi-
cally Jewish education which we have been observing in
Galicia and Russia during the last 10 to 20 years, had
set in long before in Western and Central Europe, and
has ended in the complete overthrow of the Cheder.
Jewish children receive all their education in secular
schools, and the efforts of the parents are all directed
to secure if possible better education than the ordinary
elementary schools provide. The following table diows
that the mmiber of Jewish children attending secondary
schools (these including Gjmmasiums, Pol3rtechrdcs,
and, in Austria, Commercial Schools) is far in exc^s
of their proportion to the general population.
JEWISH PUPILS IN BOYS’ HIGH SCHOOLS.
Country.
Year.
Number of
Jewish
Percentage
of Jewi^
In every
ZOiOOQ
1 Christ.
1 In every
1 xo,ooo
Jews.
Pupils.
Pupils.
Christ-
Pupils.
Prussia, -
1906
15.76s
!
6.53
61
385
Grand Duchy of
Baden, -
1905-1906 !
1,096
6.24
83
423
BavaiHa, -
1905-1906
1,607
4.27
56
290
Austria, -
1903-1904
15,880
13-74
33
106
Hungary, -
1904
14.790
840
21.59
29
174
Alsace-Lorraine, ,
1906
7.86
55
264
Hamburg, -
1906-1907
1.403
9.28
175
722
Berlin,
1905
4.257
17-73
102
430
126
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
Similarly with secondary girls' schools, where the per-
centage of Jewesses was as follows :
In Hungary (excluding
Croatia and Slavoni), - 1906-07 31.28 per cent.
In Prussia, - - - 1906 8.54 „
In Bavaria, - - - 1905-06 7.57 „
Taldng boys and girls together, of the total number
of school children the following received secondary
education :
Country.
Year.
Christians.
Jews.
Prussia,
1906-1907
7-93 %
58.91 %
Bavaria,
-
1905-1906
5.49 %
39-62 %
Baden,
-
1905-1906
7'i4 %
45-20 %
Hamburg,^ -
-
1906-1907
20.94 %
95-59 %
Berlin,
-
1906
14-07 %
67-53 %
Frankfurt-a.-M., •
■
1906
26.47 %
86.61 %
As regards Prussia — ^for which we append a separate
table — only 7.93 per cent. Christian children receive
more than the elementary schooling, as against 58.91
per cent. Jewish children.
Here we see that Jewish children, though only
represented in half their proportion in elementary
schools, are four, eight and ten times out of propor-
tion to their numbers in their percentage of scholars
in the middle, secondary boys’ and secondary girls’
schools respectively. During the last two decades the
percentage of Jewish school children in Prussia who
^Hamburg has Higher Jewish Foundation Schools with free
education.
ADOPTION OF COSMOPOLITAN CULTURE 127
SCHOOL ATTENDANCE IN PRUSSIA, 1906.
Schools.
Number of Children.
Percen-
tage of
Jewish
Chil-
dren.
Percentage
OF Children
Educated.
Christian.
Jewish.
Christian.
Jewish.
Elementary Schools
(boys and girls), -
6,206,178
24,288
0.39
92.07
41.09
Middle Schools, etc.
(boys and girls),
165,684
5,650
3-30
2.46
9-56
Secondary Girls*
Schools,
143,550
13.403
8.54
2.13
22.68
Secondary Boys’
Schools (Pol^ech-
nics, etc.).
225,482
1
15.762
6-53
3-34
26.67
Total, -
6,740,894
59,103
0.87
100.00
!
100.00
supplement the elementary school education has been
steadily rising :
In the year 1886 it was 46.51 per cent.
„ 1891 „ 48.55
„ 1896 „ 51.07
„ 190X „ 56.29
„ 1906 „ 58.91
This increase is due to the growing prosperity of the
Jews, to their interest in trades which demand educa-
tion, and to their domicile in large towns where
schooling is easier to obtain. These factors must be
added to the already mentioned natural love of know-
ledge inherent in the Jew, and should not be forgotten
when comparing the education of Christian and Jewish
children. An example is fumi^ed by Berlin, where
in 1906, 14.07 per cent, of Christian and 67.53 per cent,
of Jewish school children received supplementary
education to the elementary schools — a far greater
disparity of numbers than dsewhere in Prussia.
128
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
In contrasting the Cheder with the secular sdbool,
we meant by secular those schools which teach
primarily secular subjects (Arithmetic, Higher Mathe-
matics, Nature Study and Science, Geography, History
and Languages) . Whether such schools accepted
pupils of any creed, or were specifically Jewish schools
with exclusively Jewish teachers and pupils was no
concern of ours, though it is a matter of some import-
ance. In specifically Jewish schools, along with modem
education, considerable time is given to the teaching
of Jewish religion and Hebrew, which instils into
the pupils a certain respect for Jewish tradition that
is altogether lost in Christian schools. To such schools
(of a specifically Jewish character, but with a modem
s3rstem of education) belong a mnnber of Jewish public
schools in Germany, England and America, the Baron
de Hirsch schools in Galicia, and the schools of the
Alliance Israelite Universelle in the East. In Prassia
in 1906 the 240 Jewish public schools were attended by
6,065 Jewish children, i.e. by one-fourth of the total
number of Jewish school children in Prassia. The
number of these has, however, steadily decreased
during the last 20 years ; in 1886 they numbered
13,249, i.e. 37.4 per cent, of Jewish school children.
Similarly, the number of Jewish schools has decreased
in Alsace-Lorraine from 61 in 1900 to 51 in 1907 ;
the Jewish pupils going over in large numbers to the
non-confessional schools. Secondary schools and girls’
high schools of a specifically Jewish character are few
and far between in Germany.^ By far the greata:
number of Jewish children in Prussia and Germany
(more than four-fifths) receive their education side by
^ The best known axe the Philanthropin in Frankfurt-a.-M., the
Jacobson school in Seesen, and the Samson school in Wolfenbiittel.
ADOPTION OF COSMOPOLITAN CULTURE 129
side with Christian children, either in primary or
secondary schools or in the “ Gymnasiums.” The
only difference consists in the religious instruction
which in Germany, France and England is limited
to a few hours a week and includes Hebrew and
Jewish history ; instruction in these subjects is
usually given by a special teacher authorised by the
congregation.
D. The Universities.
Just as they throng to the higher schools, so do the
Jews throng to the Universities, in Eastern as much
as in Western Europe. TiU the year 1760 the few Jews
who went in for study (almost exclusively medicine)
had to betake themselves to Dutch, Danish and
Italian Universities, except for a few isolated cases in
Halle, Gottingen and Frankfurt-a.- 0 .: ^ towards the
end of the eighteenth century the Jewish student yas
already no rarity, and in the nineteenth century the
number of Jewish students at German Universities had
increased in the same degree as Jews had advanced in
material prosperity and in the general standard of
education. As their increasing wealth enabled them
to defray the es^ienses of their sons’ education at the
Universities, so their improved social status and
education enabled them to regard University education
very differently from their attitude of 100 and 150
years ago — or as the Galician Jews look upon it to-day.
In Galicia, owing to the lack of a Jewish middle da^
there is no bridge between the University-bred doctor
or lawyer and the great mass of Jewish poor.
1 The first Jewish student in Prussia was Tobia Kohen, who re-
ooived a special permit from the Great Kurfurst about 1675 to study
medidne at Ftanhfurt>a.-M.
I
130 THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
The following table shows the number of Jews
studying at Prussian Universities and their principal
branches of study. (It should be mentioned here that
Jewish theology is included in the Faculty of
Philosophy.)
Of the Total Population there
STUDIED IN Prussian Universities
Percentage of Total Popu-
lation Studying
During
the Terms.
II
II
OH
8
8
1
cu
Ui
X
i
0
d
•?3
1
1
X
I '
nS
d
.I
u
V
.5
0
■'g
1
£
1
g
jd —
ill
H fife
8
*3
Jews 1
Noa-
Jews
s.
1886-87-91
1891-92-95-96
1899-99-1900
1905-05-06
1886-87-91
1891-92-95-96
1899-99-1900
T905-05-06
3143
2562
2199
1847
193
266
383
539
2155
2638
4035
5226
644
529
453
319
2S27
2572
2646
1658
297
259
364
443
3371
2926
:47i8
8635
8.22
9.17
8.67
9.35
91.78
90.83
91.33
90.65
18.55
17.07
14.60
16.14
81.45
82.93
85.40
83.86
8.10
8.12
7.16
4.88
91.90
91.88
92.84
95.12
11.95
11.47
9.52
88.05
88.53
'91.48
92.27
8.9
8.9
8.1
6.9
9t.o
91.0
91.8
93.0
It shows that the average number of Jews during
the summer and winter terms of 1905-06 was 6.97 per
cent, of all the students. The medical faculty, with
16.14 per cent., claims the greatest number of Jewish
students in proportion to the total number of students
engaged in this faculty, then comes jurisprudence with
9.35 per cent., and lastly philosophy with 4.88 per
cent. During the last two decades Jews have shown
an increasing preference for jurisprudence; their
numbers have increased in this faculty (while they
have decreased in medicine) — ^an increase which, it
must be remarked, is not confined to Jewish students
alone. If we comp^e the proportion of any hundred
Jewish sthdents in each faculty in 1886-87-91' with the
ADOPTION OF COSMOPOLITAN CULTURE 131
proportion 1905-06, we shall see that the percentage
in the faculty of jurispradence has risen from 17.02 to
41.43, in the facidty of medicine has fallen from 56.79
to 24.52, and in the faculty of philosophy has risen
from 26.19 to 34 - 05 - The proportion of Jews to the
whole number of students has fillen from 8.98 per cent,
in 1886-91 to 6.97 per cent, in 1905-06. But this
must be ascribed to the rapid growth of the Christian
population, and it must not be thought that Jews
are behind-hand in sending their sons to University.
Thus in 1886-91 of 10,000 Jews 30.48 were students,
whereas in 1905-06 their percentage was 31.77 per cent.
Their proportion in 1886-91 was almost seven times
as large as that of the Christian population when
there were only 4.71 students to every 10,000 of the
popiilation.
The South German Universities have no statistics
with regard to the religion of the students. The Uni-
versity of Strassburg alone furnished the following
figures : For the summer term 1907, of 1,613 students,
90 or 5.6 per cent, were Jews. Of these 19 belong to
the faculty of jurisprudence, 32 to that of medicine,
17 to that of philosophy, and 22 to the faculty of
mathematics and natural science.
In Austria in the academic year 1903-04, 3,016 Jews
were studying at Universities, maMng 15.54 per cent,
of tile whole number of students. In comparison to
their numbers there are four times as many Jewish as
Christian University students. Of the 3,210 Jewish
students of the winter term 1903-04 —
1,729 or 53.9 per cent, were studying Jurisprudence.
681 or 21.2 „ „ „ Medicine.
800 car 24.9 „ „ ., Philosophy.
132 THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
At the same time of 15,751 students of other creeds —
7,686 or 48.8 per cent, were studying Jurisprudence.
1,828 or 11.6 „ „ „ Medicine.
6,237 or 39.6 „ „ „ Philosophy.
Hence we see the Austrian Jewish students applying
themselves to Medicine in greater numbers than their
Christian fellows, while they are behind them in the
philosophical faculty.^ Besides the Universities, the
great technical schools of Austria numbered among
their pupils in 1904, 1,231 Jews, i.e. 17.66 per cent, of
their total number — 6,978 ; the high school for agri-
culture 3 per cent. The conditions in Hungary may
be seen from the following table :
Studying.
During the
Year
At the Universities.
In
Technical
High
Schools.
Juris-
prudence.
Philosophy.
Medicine.
Chemistry.
All Subjects.
1
il
vs
'' 1 '
2 fl
g'ol
A B i
ll
0 )
gp 1
iti
a ?
£ «
ll
0
s 1
a*w S
n
«
iS
i|
1 ^
0 )
^ 1
0 ) On 3
s s
£ “
|i
1” i 5
Vb
1886-1890
1896-1900
19OI-1905
1907
1096
1558
1670
17.08
22.91
25-63
26.73
44
114
322
266
10.89
12,94
10-37
15-95
670
353
376
718
52.55
45-43
44.66
47.80
19
28
52
1 14
7.42
X 7.95
26.13
34.03
1170
1591
2308
2768
26.04
24.11
26.53
28.38
502
510
646
506
37-89
40.60
44.80
40.39
Here in 1907 there were 2,768 Jewish students, making
28.38 per cent, of all the students. These went in for
philosophy and chemistry to a smaller, and for medicine
to a greater, extent than their Christian fellows, and
for jurisprudence in about equal numbers. Their atten-
dance at the technical high schools is remarkable, 506
or 40.39 per cent, of the students being Jews. Taking,
1 The University of Czemowitz had relatively the greatest number
of Jews : 277 out of a total of 668 students in 1903-1904.
ADOPTION OF COSMOPOLITAN CULTURE 133
the mimbers at the universities and technical schools
together, there are six times as many Jews as Christians
(in proportion to their numbers) and one-haJf of the
future doctors and engineers will be Jews.
Even in Russia the pressure of Jews to the Univer-
sities is very great, but since the law of December, 1886,
the Russian Government has limited the percentage
of Jews at the Universities. In recent years the re-
stricted percentage for Petersburg and Moscow was
3 per cent., for Kasan, Charkow, Dorpat and Tomsk
5 per cent., for Warsaw, Kiefi and Odessa 10 per cent,
of the total number of students. That this percentage
is not always rigidly enforced becomes evident when we
see that in 1899 there were 1,757 Jewish students at all
the Universities, making a percentage of 10.9 (as against
556 = 6.8 per cent, in 1880). But for the most part
the law is enforced, and a great number of Jews are
thereby excluded from Russian Universities. The
result is that the Jewish youth are forced to go to
foreign Universities. The number of Russian Jews
who for this reason frequent Swiss, and to a lesser
degree French and German, Universities, may be rou^y
estimated at 2,000 ^ to which must be added the statis-
tically stin unkn own numbers of those who go to
high schools, polytechnics, commercial schools and art
schools. Many of these Russo-Jewish students, male
and female, have a bitter struggle to secure their
education. But in addition to their thirst for know-
ledge and native energy, they have a great incentive
in the fact that the University diploma alone can free
them from many oppressive laws, and in particular
'^ves them the right to live outside the limits of the Pale
of Settlement.
1 Compare Zeitschrift fUr Dent. u. Stat. der Juden, 1905, vol. is.
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
134
E. Modem culture and assimilation.
If we examine aU tlie subjects which go to make up
the education of the modem Jewish student, we find
that in all progressive countries it consists of purely
secular subjects with no bearing on the Jewish religion.
And in these countries Jewish children receive more of
this secular education than Christian children, since
they frequent the high schools and Universities in
greater numbers. In those countries where state edu-
cation is not compulsory the majority of Jewish
children do indeed receive a specifically Jewish educa-
tion in the Cheder, but in recent years a distinct move-
ment in favour of secular elementary school education
is observable in Russia and Galicia where the Cheder
once reigned supreme. We have devoted' so much
attention to the question of the education of Jewish
children because we regard the spread of modem school
education among the Jews as the chief caxise of the
ferment in the spiritual life of the Jews, and the prin-
cipal factor in the process of denationalisation which
is going on witMn Judaism to-day before our very eyes.
The modem school education in its present form is
fatal to Jewish tradition, and is rooting out the spiritual
life which rested on that tradition. This process is
the more complete the longer and the more strongly
the Jewish children come under the influence 6t secular
education ; it is especially marked in those children
who attend high schools and Universities.
It is not dif&cult to explain this psychologically.
l]be Jewish child of Eastern Europe who goes straight
from his orthodox home to the gymnasium, not only
has to renounce " Jargon ” for the language of the
country, but he comes into contact with the accumula-
ADOPTION OF COSMOPOLITAN CULTURE 135
tion of twaity centuries of difEerent culture. The
culture of his parents being to aU intents and purposes
no further advanced than that of Judaism in the
thirteenth and fourteenth century, he thus skips
several centuries — ^the most fruitful and eventful cen-
turies, indeed, in the history of science and ^coveries.
Just as a man of the fourteenth century woiild .be
unable to understand our modem culture, and con-
versely a man of the twentieth century would find
the culture of the fourteenth strange to him, so the
Jewish child, after having been through a modem
school, becomes a stranger to his . parents, and
in his turn can no longer understand his parents
and the Jewish tradition, nor desires to under-
stand them. His wider knowledge and his mastery of
the language of the coimtry cause him to undervalue
Jewish culture and language ; the deft is so wide that
it can no longer be bridged. Modem education, as
Jewish children receive it to-day, denationalises and
dejudaises them.
It was not chance, nor was it a tribute to learning
that induced the Russian Government to allow the Uni-
versity Jew the right of domicile wherever he pleased
in Russia — ^the right it so jealously denies to the mass
of Jews ; it was the recognition that a Jew who has
received a modem education is, in the ordinary sense
of the term, no longer a Jew. The more the Jews
partake of state education, the stranger and more
distant do they become to Judaism as a religion and
as a national community. In Galicia their devotion
to and imderstanding of Jewish tradition decreases
according as the school which the boy attends is Cheder,
Hirsch school, public school, gymnasium or university.
It is as rare to find a Cheder pupil who discards the
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
136
uses of Ms religion, as it is to find a University Jew who
holds fast to them (apart from the Jews who have been
recovered by Zionism to the practice of the ceremonials) .
Zangwili has shown how great is the difference of out-
look on Jewish religion and tradition between the
Russian emigrant and Ms EngHsh public school son.^
The estrangement of the modem Jewish child from
Judaism is aggravated and accelerated by yet another
cause. If this modem school education could be im-
parted not only to a fraction, but simult^eously to
the whole of the young Jewish generation, the young
generation would probably — ^wherever Jews were to-
gether in large numbers — develop a new character of
its own and feel homogeneous ; and tMs, if it did not
prevent assimilation, would at least retard it.^ But
as, in point of fact, only a minority of Jewish children
in Eastern Europe receives tMs education, such a
communal feeling cannot exist. The Eastern European
Jew who has received a modem education remains an
individual apart among the Jewish community ; he
can no longer coalesce with them, and is driven into
an isolation wMch too often leads to Christianity.
1 In Zangmll*s ChUdren of the Ghetto (London^ 1901) there are
many good remarks on this subject: " Orthodox Jews,” he observes,
** are absolutely astonished when people of education remain true
to Judaism.” And the scene in which the dying son (who has
been an inmate of an English school for a few years) can neither
understand the language nor the thought of his Yiddish-speaking
father who has been summoned to the bedside, is as true as it is
moving.
s We assume this from the fact that in Galicia where the number
of children and men who receive school and University edu-
catkm is relatively far larger than in Russia^^ the Jewish students
are kss estranged from Judaism than in Russia.
CHAPTER IX.
DECREASING IMPORTANCE OF RELIGION.
A. The origin of the Jewish religion.
The Jewish religion has sprung from many roots
which extend back into different periods of time. The
origin of the monotheistic idea, the belief in Jehovah
as the One and Only God, is lost in the obscurity of the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries B.c. (Jehovah was
then probably not worshipped exclusively, but as the
mighty war-god of the Kenites, and His ascendancy
over all other gods was not recognised until after seven
centuries of constant religious struggle.) Much later
and less fully developed is the origin of the belief in
immortality, or rather the belief in the resurrection of
the dead. According to Graetz ^ this idea was borrowed
from the Iranian religions a^wut the fifth or fourth cen-
tury B.C., was disputed in the book of " Kcdideth ” at
the time of the Maccabees, and only gradualiy became
an article of faith. It is found again in the belief hdd
• by orthodox Jews to-day in the coming of the Messiah,
with which is mingled the thought of retribution in
another world for deeds committed in this.
Judaism as^a religion owes its strength and its power
of resistance through the ages less to its metaphyseal
ideas than to its cult, i.e. its ceremonies and ritual.
0f the Jews, vol. ii. p. 204.
138 THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
These can be traced back to the year 622 B.c., when at
the time of the rebuilding of the Temple, the finding
of a book of Moses (Deuteronomy) stirred the King
Josiah to carry out sweeping reforms, making Jeru-'
«;a1pTn the religious centre, and the priesthood there
all-powerful. But Josiah’s reforms were followed by
the destruction of the Jewish State (586) and the Baby-
lonian Captivity, and would have disappeared without ■
any trace if Ezra and Nehenaiah, one hundred years
later, had not led the people back to Palestine, and
there revived and intensified observance of the laws.
Eaara and Nehemialr set about to keep alive the faith
in Jehovah in the heart of the nation — ^now so small —
and to preserve it from the intrusion of heathen gods
and their cults. The task was a difficult one, and
the leaders of the people thought, and rightly,
that they could only accomplish it by rigorous
measures— namely, by the total exclusion of outside
influence, by disallowing any mixture of blood, any
adoption of foreign culture. Hence the prohibitions
against marriage and eating with a non-Jew, hence the
idea of the special “ holiness ” of the Jewish people,
hence the reverence for the Torah above and beyond
anything else in the world, hence the indifference to all
foreign culture. A masterpiece indeed was this achieve-
ment of Ezra’s ; even H. S. Chamberlain cannot with-
hold his admiration : ■“ The idea [of Ezra’s] of isolating
the nation by forbidding mixed marriages, and of
rearing a noble race from the hopelessly mongrel
Israelite is nothing if not brilliant : equally so the idea
of representing the purity of the race as an historical
l^acy, as the special, characteristic feature of the Jew."^
^ The FoundaHons of the Nineteenth Century, It may be of ’
to remark here that Chamberlain in 'this briiyant b^^t
DECREASING IMPORTANCE OF RELIGION 139
Many ritual ordinances — ^particularly the dietary la-ws,
which cannot be defended on the grounds of hygiene —
become comprehensible when’ considered from the stand-
point that they were designed to limit the intercourse
of the Jew to his own people, and to prevent his miying
with non-Jews. A Jew was immediately recognisable
by the fringes of his dress (Zitsith) ; a Jewish home by
•the sign upon the doorpost (Mesusa), so that every
Jew was protected from unwittingly eating with a non-
Jew or entering a non-Jewish house. The temptation
to do so was ever present, as the other inhabitants of
Palestine were closely aVin to the Jews in culture,
language and race. From this point of view we shall
consider the truth of the assertion so often made, that
the Jews owe their continued existence to their religion.
It is not true, if by religion we mean Jewish mono-
theism ; it is true if by the Jewish religion we mean
the ritual incorporating it, instituted by Ezra's reforms.
In this form it became less a religious “ faith ” than a
religious organisation admirably adapted for endur-
ance — ^for the physical and cultural preservation of
the Jewish peopld.
book takes the contrary attitude to many of his followers and
forerunners — ^to Eugen Duhring in particular — ^by attributing the
alleged inferiority of the Jews not to race but to the religious doc-
trines instituted by Ezra and Nehemiah. It is senseless to call
an Israelite a Jew, though his descent is beyond question, if he has
succeeded in throwing off the fetters of Ezra and Nehe miah, and if
the Law of Moses has no place in his brain, and contempt of others
no place in his heart. ... A purdy humanised Jew is no longer a J ew,
because by renouncing the idea of Judaism, he ipso facto has left
that nationality, which is composed and held together by a complex
of conceptions — ^by a *faith * ” (see page 491) . Th^e are a few millions
of such Jews. It shows how little Chambetiaan knows Jewish con-
ditions of the present day, when he proposes to set aside these Jews,
and consider as Jews only the ultra-orthodox who in his ** Judaised ”
West^ Eurc^ axe only a small minority of the Jews themselves.
140
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY .
The fact that Ezra’s ordinances held good for so
man y generations is due in the first place to the manner
in which they were conveyed — as religious command-
ments, laws of God, obeyed, as with all primitive
people, out of fear of arousing the anger of God. With
every nation the social institutions which are bound
up with religion endure the longest. We need only
point to divisions of caste in India which, unjust as they
seem to us, have endured, thanks to their religious
authority, for thousands of years. The Armenians to-
day, deprived of their pohtical independence, make the
Church the basis of their claim to national identity,
and thus preserve an obstinate and not easily assailable
existence. Again, Ezra’s laws derived much of their
strength from the fact that they were not merely
theoretical teachings, but practical rules of life. Had
the isolation of the Jewish nation been based only on
the strength of the faith in Jehovah, it would not have
survived the centuries, for theoretical ideas are apt to
become weakened and changed in the course of time.
On the other hand, traditional laws and customs of
daily life have a strong hold and endure even when the
idea which they express has long ago been forgotten or
discredited ; they then become superstitions, and are
thought to possess secret powers. Theories are always
subject to being refuted by proofs, ingrained customs
are more diffi cult to uproot.
Thirdly, the Jews after the dispersion were economi-
cally in a unique position among the nations. They
alone carried on the trades of merchants and money-
teiders among agricultural peoples, and their attitude
towards their non- Jewish surroundings was ^ceptional,
and indeed often hostile. Hence they did hot come.
into close intercourse with ncm-Jews, and there was no-
DECREASING IMPORTANCE OF RELIGION 141
temptation for tliem to discard their religious ordi-
nances. Where, as was the case in Eg3rpt and South
Italy, the non-Jewish population was no longer engaged
in agriculture, but lived under the same system of trade
and exchange, and where, therefore, the social antithesis
no longer existed, the Jews mixed freely with their
neighbours and the strict observance of their rites
was soon dropped.
/The idea of Israel being a “ chosen ” people only took
tactical form in the time of Ezra. When we find
dhiistians in the Middle Ages forbidden to eat with
Jews or intermarry with them, this is only reciprocation
of\he Jewish practice. If the Jev^ had not separated
themselves, the Christians would not have separated
them, there would have been no GhettoSj/and in spite
of the difference of race — ^which, in tlfe first ten Christian
centuries, when the Jews lived along the coast of the
Mediterranean, was less marked than during the next
1,000 years when they lived among the peoples of
Northern Europe — ^the Jews would xmdoubtedly have
been swallowed up by Christianity and Islam during
the Middle Ages. The fact that Ihe Samaritans, rriio
live by Jewish law, have managed to survive since the
time of Jesus to this day as a separate community in
Palestine (in Nablous) is a proof of the eflfectivmiess of
the Jewish law in preserving a nation apart.
The later religious movements in Judaism — the
schools of Hillel and Shammai in the time of Jesus, the
learned Rabbis of the Talmud, and the great teachers
of the Middle Ages — ^made no change in Ezra’s and
Nehemiah’s reform, which made religious culture, en-
veloped in a network of ritual and ceremonies, the
centre of Jewish life ; they only continued it in a straight
line and built a monument of lit^al interpretation and
142
THE JEWS OE TU-JDAY
extraordinary dialectic around it. The majority of the
religious injunctions must assuredly have had a prac-
tical meaning for the author of Deuteronomy and for
Ezra and Nehemiah, but they had lost all living interest
and practical significance in the Talmudic and post-
Talmudic ages, chiefly through absolutely changed
conditions. Shorn of their rational foundation, they
remained nothing but a complicated S37stem of rules,
their only justification beiag their supposed Divine
origin ; and as no other basis was accounted necessary,
they were studied as Divine commands, and the very
letters were interpreted as something holy.
From the point of view of general spiritual progress,
Chamberlain is quite justified in saying that Ezra’s
reform, by substituting the imposed authority of the
" Law ” for the free and -lofty conception of prophetic
religion — ^the religion of Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah
— is a set-back to rdigious progress.^ Nevertheless
a Jew who loves his people must be grateful to Ezra for
having been the means of preserving the nation, for
“ Israel has been saved by her ritual.” *
B. Jewish orthodoxy in the -present day.
The Jewish religion to-day is thoroughly disorganised.
It include a hundred varieties between the “ fromm ”
(pious) Jew, who would suffer any hardship rather than
n^lect the smallest religious precept, to the ” en-
lightened Jew,” whose adherence to Judaism only
becomes apparent when he is buried in a Jewish ceme-
tey. We may say that there are about six million
sneh " fromm ” Jews and three million " enlightened,"
wirile the Yemainder fill in the intermediate stages.
^ The FoundaHons of the Nineteenth CefUury, vol, 436.
* Leroy-BeatiBea^ The Jem emd AnU-SemiHsm*
DECREASING IMPORTANCE OF RELIGION 143
The orthodox Jew still bases his life on Ezra’s legis-
lation ; his whole life is saturated with religion. The
cleaning of a vessel (as Bruno Bauer has remarked) is
not a household duty, it is the highest duty a man can
have — a religious duty. Before he touches a morsel
of food, he begins the day with religion, i.e. with
attendance at a house of prayer and with pray ing ;
the evening ends in the same way. For him there can
be no festival and no joy outside his religion. The
jo3dul events in family life, marriage, circumcision, etc.,
bear a pre-eminently religious character. The profane
way in which Christians celebrate such events with sing-
ing and dancing is absolutely foreign to the pious Jew ;
his one recreation is to go to the Beth Hamidrash (house
of learning) on Sabbath afternoons, and there study
the old Hebrew writings and discuss them with friends.
It is characteristic that even social organisations such
as the trades unions of Jewish workmen in Russia, are
foxmded on the possession of a scroll of the Taw, and a
communal divine service in a common house of prayer.^
There is something “ out-of-the-way,” something
extremely pathetic, even if it be not very lofty and
exailted, in the religious feeling of an Eastern European
Jew — 2. spirit which cannot be awakened in the “ en-
lightened ” Jew of Western Europe. To the orthodox
Jew the existence of an ever-present, all-smng God is
the alpha and omega of his thought. He coimects
the events of every-day life, in business and fcunily,
directly with his observance of the ritual ; he sees
ever3nvhere the hand of God ev«:-present, punishing
and rewarding. The neglect of a religious ordinance
and a subsequent unpleasantness in business are to
^ Sara Rabijsomtsch, The Organisation of {he Jewish Proletariat in
fiussia, p. 9.
144
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
him obviously matter of cause and effect. We should
call much — ^perhaps most — of his religious thought
superstition ; but who can draw the line between faith
and superstition ? It is this very submission to the
Law, and the ensuing feeling of constant communion
with the God-head, that reconciles him to life, makes
his miserable, dreary existence seem necessary and
important. Death, and the reverence for departed
spirits that goes hand in hand with it, is one of the
mainsprings of all religion ; thus, it is noteworthy that
it is a sacred duty for the orphan son of an Eastern
European Jew to recite the " Kaddish ” in the
synagogue every day for a whole year, after the death
of his father, and again every year at the anniversary
of the death, the Kaddish being a prayer in praise
of God, the recital of which is thought to bring peace
and repose to the soul of the departed. The bu rning
of an oil lamp (Jahrzeit) accompanies the ceremony.
The anniversaries of the deaths of great Rabbis are
not only celebrated by their successors, but by the
whole congregation, in prayer.^ 2
iXhe “Chassidim” celebrate the anniversaries of the deaths of
their “ ZaddiMm ” (holy ones) by a festive meal, as the deaths of
such men are not sad bnt joyful events, signifying their union -with
God.
* In proof that this pious remembrance of the dead is a develops
meat of ancestor worship — ^worship of departed spirits — ^we may cite
the fact that in Eastern Europe prayers are offered up not only /or but
to the dead. I visited the old Jewish cemetery of Cracow in the,
spring of 1903 on the very day of the “ Jahrzeit ” of the famous^
Rabbi Moses Isserles (buried here in 1572) ; Jews were floching^ io’
the cemetery to pray and lament at the Rabbi's grave. Most of
them wrote down their particular prayer or wish in Hebrew on a-
piece Of paper and either threw these papers on the grave ‘
f^t^ed them to the tombstone. Both grave and stone were ^
nlthnately quite hidd^. und^ the crowd of papers, which bcne i
ev^ variety of appeal to fhe Rabbi to come to their help.
DECREASING IMPORTANCE OF RELIGION 145
An outstanding feature of the religious life is the
sanctification of the Sabbath. The poorest Jew, after
a week’s toil as pedlar or artisan, throws ofi all his
cares on the Sabbath, and abstains from all manner
of work from the Friday to the Saturday evening. It
is the strict observance of the Sabbath more than any-
thing else that distinguishes and separates the Jew
from his non-Jewish surroundings.
The sect of Chassidim occupies a singular position
within the body of East European Judaism. Its
adherents are found in the greatest numbers in Galicia
and Bukovina, where they number one-half of all the
Jews there; in Russia and Hungary their numbers
are also very considerable. The Chassidim {i.e. the
pious) are distinguished for a certain optimism of
religious belief, and for the faith they have in their
Zaddikim (holy ones), who are singled out by their
transcendent piety and asceticism, and profess to be
nearer God than other people, imderstanding and
knowing Him better than they. Every Zaddik has
his followers — ^many or few according to his fame
and personality — and these are scattered far and wide
in many places. These followers often meet together
in special houses of prayer (Edaus), and their faith in
the distant Zaddik bhufe them together as a separate
community. The Zaddik is sought after for advice in
every difficulty — ^be it the launching of a business, a
legal dispute, a dangerous illness, an operation — the
Rabbi is the final authority for his followers, and the
lawyer and physician are set aside. The veneration
ip, which these wonder-working Rabbis are held is
extraordinary. A believer is happy if he can secure
even a fish-bone out of the dish from which the holy
man has eaten. He w^iis a coin which has received
146 THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
the Zaddik's benediction as an amulet, and often
sacrifices a whole year’s earnings to make a journey to
the Zaddik on a high festival and bring him a present.
At the period of these festivals, Galician trains are
crowded with these strange pilgrims. These wonder-
working-Rabbis are generally members of famous
families — ^their repute handed down from father to son
— and they grow so rich on the presents brought them
by the pilgrims that they often live in magnificent
houses (in glaring contrast to the unspeakably miser-
able dwellings of the Galician Jews), and support a
large staff of parasites, who live on the crumbs they
leave. Their influence on their followers has the
power of hypnotism. One must have witnessed the
sight of the multitudes of Jews gathered together in a
Sjmagogue. during high Festival at Belz Czoiikow or
Sadagora, when the famous wonder-Rabbi assists, in
order to have an idea of this hypnotism. The thousand-
headed, serried mass is swayed this side and that like
ears of com in a wheat-field ; a low moan sometimes
swelling into an agonised wail passes through it, as
from a broken heart — ^this is no prayer in the ordinary
sense of the word, it is delirium, transport, ecstasy.
Undoubtedly Chassidism is a retrogression, an obstacle
to any spiritual progress,^ but there can be no hope
of exterminating it, so long as the present wretched
social condition of the Jews, on which Chassidism
thrives, continues. The spiritual energy of the Jew
created an imaginary world when the real world was
lost to him. He found an outlet for his spirit in the
lA Jew whom I met in Belz (a stronghold of Chassidism), orc^
hearing that I came from Prussia, remarked characteristically that',^
300 years ago famous men liad lived there too. For him Prassi%"^i
since it ceased to produce famous Talmudists, had sunk to barbarism.
DECx^'ASING IMPORTANCE OF RELIGION 147
mysticism and superstition of Chassidism, an escape
from the sorrows of existence in his faith in the power
of the Rabbi ; it was the one bright light of his life,
the guarantee that sooner or later better times would
come. With all peoples, at all times, whenever pres-
sure from without crushes natural action, the spirit
evolves these fantastic conceptions, and superstition
and m3?sticism spring up. The esoteric doctrines of
the Baale Emrmoth in the eighth and ninth centuries,
and the Cabbala-study of the fifteenth to the eighteenth
centuries have the same origins. Some hope of a
brighter future was essential to the oppressed Jew ; he
could not live without it, he needed it to reconcile him
to life.
Even with non-Chassidic orthodox Jews, religious
feelmg often degenerates into superstition and faith in
miracles. How many look upon the fringes (Zitzith),
the phylacteries (TephUlin), the signs on the door-
posts (Mezuzoth), otherwise than as amulets and pre-
cautions against evil spirits (comparable to the super-
stition of the horse-shoe).^
Religion even controls the wearing of the hair, and
the costume of the orthodox Jew. A Jew may not
cut off his hair at the temples, hence the well-lmown
side-CTurls (in Russia he is not allowed to wear these) ;
his wife, on her marriage, has to cut off all her hair,
and is condenmed to wear a head-shawl or wig all her
life. The long gaberdine which the Eastern Jew wears
was originally nothing else but the customary Polish
dress of the sixteenth and seventeenth century, which
the Jews adopted. But, strange as it may seem,
i See TAe CAildren of the Ghetto, by Israel Zangwill. Wben the
old grandmolber is told of the sudden illness of her grandson, her
fet wcffds are, “ I -wond^ if ie was wearing his Zitzith ? **
148
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
religion has sanctified this very costume, ttfie pious
Jew refuses to discard it, and looks upon >^^Jew in
modem clothes as little better than an apostlrafc* A
Jew, who for the first time exchanges the " kaftan ” for
modem dress, looks upon this act as of epoch-making
importance ; it signifies as much to him as conversion
does to the Western Jew. There is actually a sort of
connection between orthodoxy and the kaftan, inas-
much as the Jews are most “ fromm ” where there are
fewest in modem dress. In the small towns of Eastern
Galicia there is hardly a Jew who does not wear a
kaftan. In Cracow about one-half of all the Jews
wear them. Like the kaftan, other originally profane
articles of clothing have become sanctified by religion.
The Portuguese Jews of Amsterdam still wear knee-
breeches and “ dreimaster ” on the Sabbath (once the
fashion in Portugal). And the pious Polish Jew still
wears the fur hat (streirnd), centuries ago the fashion
in Poland, and now an indispensable article of Sabbath
clothing. In Russia the fur hat has been prohibited
by the Government, and a velvet or silk cap has had
to be substituted.
It is certain that if we except those who blindly
follow what their neighbours do for fear of public
opinion, many Jews only observe the Law so rigidly
because they fear the consequences of non-observance ;
they believe that their obedience to, and neglect of,
the Laws are entered in God’s book as matters of
credit and debit, and that the fate of their " life to
cohm” depends on the balance. What makes tbk
sort of “ piety ” often so repulsive is that it leads to
keeping the letter of the Law without the spirit ; the
most rigid observance of all the minutiae may go hai^
in hand with a bad character, with avarice, with hsa#
DECREASING IMPORTANCE OF RELIGION 149
teartedness aiid perfidy. But tMs is not the rule,
and one cannot but admire tbe Jew who, in an over-
crowded train, will proceed to recite the morning
prayer with phylacteries, pra3dng shawl and all ; who
will spend his last peimy to secure the Sabbath candles
— ^many towns within the Jewish area in Eastern Europe
are only lit up on the occasion of this Friday night
illumination — or who in his old age cherishes the desire
to be buried in Palestine, in the land of his fathers.
It will be seen from the above remarks that Jewish
orthodoxy remains to-day very much the ceremonial
religion of Ezra and Nehemiah. The spirit is overlaid
by a thick stratum of ritual and ceremony. The
Jewish religion in this form has not readied a very high
stage in religious evolution. But, as long as these
forms suflBice for the Jew, the religion has a great
power. The proselytising strength of a religion is in
inverse ratio to its abstractness. The more abstract,
philosophic and intangible it is, the fewer and less
fervent are its adherents. The blind unquestioning
faith of the Moslem and the orthodox Jew, setting
at nought all the discoveries of modem sdence, this is
a really important factor in the life of a people — ^not the
sceptical Protestantism of our own day, or tl^ anaemic
rdigious feeling of the “ enlightened ” Jew. For the
Mohammedan and the Jew, prayer is no aesthetic
pleasure, as it has tended to b^me in Chridian ser-
vices, with song and organ ; it is an earnest attempt to
bring mhn into line with nature. Worship in a Christian
Church in Eastern Europe is unspeakably more beauti-
ful than in the neighbouring synagogue, but the
greats fervour is undeniably in the latter. The
Jewidi religion, partly through the prohibition to
I'^rresent G<xi pictorMy, is comparatively poor in
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
150
outward sjonbols ; ^ the Jew is therefore compelled t(
concentrate all his religious feeling on prayer. Praye:
is the essence of his religion, and it is because of thh
that the Jew has still a strongly marked anthropo-
morphic conception of God. Only a humanly con-
ceived God could understand the torrent of feeling
that is poured out to Him in prayer. It is for this
reason that the Catholic offers up his prayer and
his sacrifice not to God Himelf, but to his patron
Saint.
C. Liberal Judaism.
Leroy-Beaulieu ^ is surprised “ that the Jew as soon
as he comes in contact with outside influences, so often
goes from one extreme to the other, from blind faith to'
scepticism, from Oriental tradition to the latest develop-
ment of ‘ the Spirit of the Age.’ ” This, indeed, is
the Achilles’ heel of the Jewish religion. It may have
been the same in former times with other religions,
when religion was a potent factor in cultural life, but
to-day it is confined to the outcome of the Ghetto.
As soon as the Jew steps out of the Ghetto, and begins
to take part in the social life of the country, adopting
its’ language and culture, so soon does he make himself
firee of the bonds of the Jewish religion. This is seen
most clearly with the English and American Jewish
imm igrants. " It is generally recognised that the
foreign Jew observes his religion less strictly than he
^ Museum contains a collection of the religious symbols
of aS nations and faiths^ Those of the Jews (consisting only of
soeoHs of the Law, knives for circumcision, TalUth, Tephillin, and
a oSier serticles) probably occupy less space than those of ,any
other rell^o^ * , , ,
*UEntpir$^ iZes eiUs Russes, vol. i p. 168*
DECREASING IMPORTANCE OF RELIGION 151
did ten years ago,” says RusseU,i who is of opinion
that the next generation will breai loose from ortho-
doxy altogether. As we have shown in previous
chapters, this detachment from religion is accomplished
most rapidly when the Jew receives a secular education
in his childhood. An East European Jew who has
received a gymnasium or university education is
hopelessly estranged from the Jewish religion. Even
the elementary school education is calculated to under-
mine orthodox Judaism, and it is a very natural
instinct that impels the “ fromm ” Jew to prevent his
children going to the secular schools, and induces him
to prefer the inferior Cheder education under the
Hebrew master (Melamed). We see here that the
far-famed obstinate devotion of the Jews to their
religion arises not so much from the great spiritual
power of this religion, as from anxiety to shield it
^from anything which might destroy religious faith.
The Jew must not be allowed to doubt, or even to
harbour conflicting thoughts ; as soon as he begins to
doubt, his fate is sealed, his secession from orthodoxy
is a necessary result. The sceptic will never more be
a pious Jew.
A century of unfettered activity in commercial
affairs, combined with secular education, has suflkagd
to estrange Jews from their religion % all economic^r
developed countries ; and whatever remains of ffrat
religion is hopelessly diluted and bloodless. This b
not to be wondered at. The spirit which entered
Emrope with the coming of the Ca|ntalistic era was
rationalism, and materialism accompanied it. The
Jew, who owes his emancipation to this spirit, is to-day
its most active inopagandist, and tl^ Jewish reli^on
^ Russell and Lewis, The Jew in London^
152
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
is no more to him than Protestantism is to the
enlightened Protestant : a survival of a former age,
not to be thrown overboard entirely, for old associa-
tions’ sake, but impossible to practise. Not that the
Jew thinks his religion a bad one — on the contrary,
he considers the pure monotheism of the Jewish
religion less senseless than the Trinity of Christi-
anity; ^e merely despises religion altogether. He
still keeps up some kind of coimection with it ; in
England, for instance, we have a class of Jew called
" Yom-kippur ” Jews, because the Day of Atonement
(Yom-kippur) is the only day of the year they attend
a S3magogue. And in France and Germany it is much
the same. The observance of the Sabbath and the
Dietary Laws are altogether discarded by the greater
number of these Jews. An enquiry instituted in
Germany in 1904 showed that only 487 congregations
out of 1,850 held the prescribed daily service in the
synagogue, while 1,147 them on the Sabbath
alone, and only 216 on the High Festivals.^ The con-
gregations which still hold daily services are to be
found mostly in the Prussian provinces of Posen,
Hessen and Nassau, and in South Germany (Bavaria,
Baden, Hesse, and Alsace-Lorraine). These are the
districts where one may stiH meet with orthodox
Judaism, or at any rate the remnants of it, in Germany.
Its survival must be attributed to the social and cultural
backwardness of the small towns hi which the Jews
Mve in these parts. The orthodox Jews to be found
in the great cities (Frankfurt-a-M., Hamburg, Hal-
b^staat, Berlin, Munich) belong partly to old families
inhoit a great pride in their race and lineage, and
partiiy to East European immigrants and their chddren-
». Siat, d, Juden, 1905.
DECREASING IMPORTANCE OF RELIGION 153
Altogether about 10-15 per cent, of the Jews in Germany
may be called orthodox.
Jewish religious activity during the nineteenth cen-
tury has confined itself to modernising the ritual.
“ Reform ” has been instituted everywhere ; consist-
ing chiefly of beautifying the synagogue building,
introducing a sermon in the language of the country,
and an organ — ^that is to say, in adopting Christian
forms of service.^ It is undeniable that the introduc-
tion of the sermon and the organ has made the service
more aesthetic than the regular orthodox service used
to be — ^held as it was in small dark rooms with no
pretence at decoration, and inharmonious enough to
offend a sensitive ear. But these cold, bare rooms
were lit up by the intense religious fervour of the
Russian Jews, to whom their religion was life, and
who felt in its observance all the glow of a vital reli-
gious experience. “ Compared to these," says Fabius
Sdiach,^ “ the devotion of the Western Jew is cold,
modem-European ; the national feding is eliminated,
the Jewish soul has dressed itself (Toilette gemadrt)
and no longer appears in its natural state. Here every-
thing is ordered and timed and calculated. Exquisite
music with organ and choir, an eloquent sermon — ^but
the outpouring of the soul, the warmth, are missing.
^ It must be said here that mnsical accompanimeait ia the synar
gogue is by no means un-Jewish : " Music and song ’wwe one oi
the features of the Temple service; a Synagogue in Prague has
for centuries possessed an organ, which is played every Friday
evening and on the Sabbath ; one, two, and three-part singing is
fairly old ” (Zunz, Die GoUesdiemtl. Vorirage der Juden), But for
the most part musical accompaniment had quite disappeared —
with the probable exception of this synagogue in Prague — ^the organ
had no place in any Jewish service, up to the nineteenth century,
^ ^ Ost and West
154
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
Something new and foreign has been added to Judaism
without being able to mix organically with. it. Out
of the old house of prayer has been evolved something
which is neither Synagogue nor church.” The Jewish
religion is dying gradually in Western Europe.. A
certain feeling of piety, and a lurking sense of shame
at deserting one’s colours stiU hold its adherents
together. This piety is indeed seldom the deep and
heart-felt religious need of the Russian Jew ; it is far
more often a dull conformity to tradition. It is more
pronounced where the rehgious status of the surround-
ing Christian population is strong (in Catholic South
Germany, for instance), and it is weakest where
rationalism has undermined the religious feeling of the
Christian population (in Berlin, Paris, and, in general,
aU the great cities). The doctrine of the mission of'
the Jews, so largely preached from the pulpit, may
still be held by a few Rabbis ; to the mass of Jews it has
long ceased to carry either meaning or credence.
D. Destructive forces.
So. much is dear : in so far as the Jewish religion is
stiU a living force, it is as a ceremonial rehgion, the
precepts of which have no rational explanation, but
are founded on a behef in their divine origin. Many
^tempts have been made to show that many of these
Jaws are based on soda! and hygienic laws, which hold
good to this day. But what does it signify if, out of
itwidreds of precepts, there should happen to be one
^^h is still hygienicaHy valuable ? We have to deal
the pindple :f are the laws of the ritual to stand
for aB eternity oirthe strength of their pretended
divine origin ? or are they to succumb to the examina-
ticm of their actiral utility in the light of advancing
DECREASING IMPORTANCE OF RELIGION 155
scientific knowledge? Should the laws and customs
emerge triumphant from the examination, the en-
lightened Jew would, of course, have no objection;
but tiie orthodox Jew would consider such a thing an
rmheard-of sacrilege, and indeed one must either accept
the ceremonial in its entirety, or reject it in its entirety.
Whosoever believes in divine revelation will accept it.
Whosoever does not believe in it must reject it, and no
Jew who has received a modem education can in the
light of Higher Criticism believe any longer in the
divine origin of Ezra’s legislation. To this opposition
of reason must be added very weighty social and
economic objections. Many laws, which entailed no
hardship in their observance under the conditions of
primitive conununication and social isolation, under
which the Jews formerly lived, are now an almost
insuperable burden — such as the observance of the
Sabbath and the Dietary Laws. How can the Jewish
shopman compete with the Christian if, in addition to
the legal day of rest, he must observe his Sabbath and
confine himself to five working days a week? How
can the Jewish pupil of the public schools, how can the
lawyer, engineer, and civil servant, keep the Sabbath ?
How can a Jew whose calling takes him to a place where
there is no Jewish congregation carry out the usages of
his religion ?
These two forces — modem science with the resulting
religious scepticism, and the change in social conditions
— are fighting^ against orthodox Judai^, and will con-
quer it in. those countri« where it ^ill has sway, as
surely as they have done in the more economically
advanced countries. What then remains of Judaism
is a feeble liberalism, which is not strong enough to
stem the tide of assimilation ; “ the reformers ” who
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
156
hope for this do not understand that the complex of
ideas accepted by a mass of people takes some time to
dissolve, knd that tradition offers a tough resistance to
science.
But its fate is sealed ; the conditions which kept
orthodoxy alive so long — ^the social isolation of the
Jews, and their divorce from secular education — are
disappearing with the advance of capitalism, and the
structure of orthodox Judaism, deprived of their
support, will fall to the ground.
CHAPTER X.
INTERMARRIAGE.
A. The increase of intermarriage.
Since the tune of Ezra and Nehemiah, that is, from
about 400 B.C., marriage between Jew and non-Jew
has been strictly prohibited. The Kohanim (priests)
were not even sillowed to marry with those who had
been converted to Judaism. The common people,
however, were permitted to do this, and during the
Hellenic period, and in the Diaspora, marriage with
Jewish neoph3d;es was very common; of tins the
Judaised Chazars are a good example. On the other
hand, during the Diaspora, such marriages were
denounced by Christians as well as by Jews, and were
forbidden, under pain of heavy penalties, by the
Councils of Orleans (a.d. 538), Toledo (a.d. 589) and
Rome (a.d. 743). The fact that these laws were made
is thought by many writers to be in itself proof that
such intermarriages did indeed take place — ^the Arch-
bishop von Gran (in Hungary) mentions its existence in
a report to the Pope in 1229; but intermarriage, towards
the end of the Middle Ag^, as the social position of
the Jews deteriorated, became very rare, and has
been since the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
till recently, a negligible quantity. The social and
religious gTilf between Christian and Jew had become
158
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
so wide, that that alone precluded the possibility of
intennarriage, and rendered the legal prohibition
quite unnecessary. Nevertheless, this prohibition
stands to this day, and still holds good in Spain,
Portugal, Russia and all countries belonging to the
Greek Church. In Mohanunedan countries intermar-
riage is forbidden by religious laws, which are the only
laws concerned in matters of marriage.
In the following remarks, whenever we speak of
intermarriage, we are leaving out of consideration
those cases in which either of the parties is converted
to the religion of the other before marriage. Inter-
marriage in the general sense of the term implies the
union of two persons who belong severally to the
Jewish and Christian rdigions.
To the anthropologist, indeed, change of religion is
of no importance ; for him, a marriage between Jew
and Christian remains a mixed marriage with or with-
out conversion — a marriage of two people belonging to
different races. But in considering statistically the
spread of intermarriage, we cannot deal with the
anthropological side, and for a very good reason. In
Europe, at any rate, the race to which the individual
belongs is not taken into account by official statistics ;
probably because it is exceedingly difficult — perhaps
impossible — to classify Exuopeans in fixed anthropo-
logical groups. If, therefore, we wish to establish the
fact of the spread of intermarriage by statistics, we
have to look only at the religion to wMch the parties
bdong.
The impetus to abolish the statutes forbid ding
marriage between Christian and Jew came from the>
French Revolution, and spre^ dowly from countryv
to coxmtry, to Holland, Denmark, Scan®.-!'
INTERMARRIAGE
159
navia, England and the United States, favoured by
the circumstance that marriage in these countries had
been converted from a clerical to a civil act. In Ger-
many intermarriage has been allowed since the law of
1875, which in addition legalised all such marriages
already contracted. In Hungary it has been legal
only since 1895 ; some of the Balkan States (notably
Roumania) permit it ; but it is prohibited in Austria,
Russia, Spain, Portugal, and the Mohammedan coun-
tries, as we have already shown. In considering the
degree in which Jews and Christians avail themsdves
of these facilities for intermarriage, we must not forget
that diversity of religious belief is everjrwhere a great
stumbling-block in the way of marriage. The religious
character of marriage in many countries makes a mixed
marriage appear a sacrilege, and for this reason it is,
without exception, discountenanced by the clergy, and
can only be accomplished through the civil law. Then,
again, difference of religion usually implies a certain
social aloofness, in the sense that people usually
associate with their co-religionists, and therefore
usually many in their circle.^ Thus the 6,700 inhabi-
tants of the island of Schokland in the Zuyder Zee,
consisting half of Protestants, half of Catholics, were
found to marry exclusively within their religious com--
munities ; the 200 Karaites in Galicia, separated from
^ This is tile attitude of orthodox Judaism towards iutennarriage.
Of all the questions which Napoleon put to the Jewish Sanhedrin
' summoned by him, none aroused such a heated debate as the third :
May a Jewess marry with a Christian, or a Jew with a Christian
girl ? ” The French reforming Rabbis were in favour of an affir-
:.3|o^ve, the German (Alsacian) of a definitely negative answer. The
^^hiEiheiin finally came to the conclusion that the only marriage
"wlach was absc^utely forbidden was marriage with Canaanites;
with Christians ou^t probably not to be celebrated by
bat oiheiwise tiiere was no hindrance.
i6o THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
the main body of their co-religionists and living apart,
among Jews and Christians, nevertheless never inter-
marry with them. Even the sHght religious difference
which exists between the Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews
of Amsterdam was sufficient to prevent marriage
between the two until the middle of the nineteenth
century. In Palestine, marriage between Sephardim
and Ashkenazim is still quite exceptional. Here, cer-
tainly, there is the additional hindrance of difference
of language and culture. Marriages between Protes-
tants and Catholics in West and South Germany were
formerly very rare, and it is only during the last
decades — since civil marriages have been introduced —
that such unions have become numerous, and the
importance of religion and the Church in the life of the
individual has decreased. The following table shows
the percentage of marriages out of the faith among
Protestants and Catholics :
In
Year.
Protestant.
Homan
Catholics.
Per cent of
Protestants
in Total
Population.
Per cent of
Catholics
in Total
Population.
Prussia, - - -
1907
7.10
I 3 * 6 x
62.59
35 - 8 o
Bavaria, - - -
1907
16.24
6.66
28.28
70.70
Hungary,
1907
21.33
7.24
6.69
51*49
Berlm, - - -
1906
8.93
62.37
83.09
10.98
Frankfort-on-Main, -
1907
28.29
44.16
60.45
3 X '59
Vienna, - - -
1905
35-26
1.42
2.88
87.28
The percentage of mixed marriages is here higher
where the Catholics or Protestants are few in number
among the general population. In other words,
adherents of a religious minority are more liable to
contract mixed marriages when the choice is limited
among their own co-rdigionists. In Berlin and Frank-
fort-on-M., where <>ith<dics are only 1048 pCT cent.
INTERMARRIAGE
i6i
of the city population (against 31.59 per cent, of the
population of the whole country), 62.37 P®r cent,
intermarry ; that is, intermarriage has almost become
the rule.
Jews intermarry most frequently in countries where
they have been settled for several generations, and
have achieved prosperity, but where their numbers
are so small that their appearance in high Christian
circles is not resented, and gives rise to no Anti-
Semitism. Such countries are Denmark, Italy and
Austraiia.^
Eighty-one per cent, of the Jews of Denmark live in
Copenhagen : in this town 395 Jewish marriage and
272 mixed marriages were contracted between the
years 1880 and 1905 among the Jews, i.e. 68.9 mixed
marriages to every 100 Jewish marriage. Mixed
marriages are on the increase, Jewish marriages on the
decrease. Of mixed marriages there were contracted :
In 1880-1889 99 = 50.8 per cent, of 161 purely Jewish marriages.
„ 1890-1895 101 = 68.7 „ „ 147
„ 1900-1905 81=82.9 „ „ 87
By the census of 1906 it was shown that there were
326 Jewish couples and 159 mixed (Jewish and Chris-
tian) in Copenhagen.
The census of 1901 in Australia disclosed the follow^
ing %ures :
MirsD Marriages,
State.
JcwaA
Blarzii^es.
Jewish
Hosbaod.
Jewish Wife.
Together.
West Australia,
yyn
S 9
23
New South Wates, -
252
108
L
i 62
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
so that mixed marriages in West Australia constitute
34.4 per cent., in New South Wales 46 per cent, of
Jewish marriages.
We have no recent data for Italy, but it is generally
acknowledged that intermarriage goes on there to a
great extent ; in 1881 there were already 34.1 per cent,
mixed marriages. In Trieste, which belongs politically
to Austria, but culturally to Italy, the following
marriages were contracted :
Year.
Purely
Jewish
Marriages.
Marriages between Jews
AND Freethinkers.
In actual
Numbere.
Per 100
Pure Jewish
Marriages.
1877-1890,
_
138
46
33-3
1891-1895,
-
-
122
47
38.5
i 8 ^- i 899 »
-
-
137
57
41.6
1900-1903,
■
106
65
61.4
1
In England and France, intermarriage was common
until 10 or 20 years ago. The Jews were then few in
numbers, and were among the wealthiest of the inhabi-
tants. Their numbers have lately increased very
largely, owing to the immigration from Eastern Europe :
among these immigrants intermarriage with Gentiles
takes place very seldom ; it is confined to the settled
upper clzisses of Jews. We have unfortunately no
actual figures.
In America, conditions are similar to those in
England. Those Jews who have long been settled in
the country and bdong to the wealthier dass, tend
to intermarry with Christians, more ^.pedally in the
rather sparsdiy populated districts of the Southern
States and South America. The great mass of Jews,,-
INTERMARRIAGE
163
however, who have immigrated since 1881, and con-
centrated themselves in the Northern States, do not so
j intermarry on a large scale. A census taken in 1904
for clerical purposes showed that there were 85 mixed
marriages to 8,627 Jewish marriages in New York, or
less than i per cent.
We have accurate figures of mixed marriages for
Germany since 1901, for Prussia and Bavaria since
^ 1875-76 ; and separate statistics for all the large towns.
Here we see that mixed marriages are everjwhere on
the increase.
.£}
K ,
■5 V
Mixed
s.-i
In ey<
^ iTO Purdy
Country.
Between
0 bo
- s
Marriages.
Mixe^
Tinges
ureje
married out of
Faith.
1^
0
>-»
•-»«
Total.
Men.
Women
Aren^
Total.
Germany,
1901-1904
3909
IB
313
675
17*3
8.48
7*41
7*95
1905-1908
3968
477
406
883
22.2
10.^
9.24
9.97
Prussia,
1875-1884
2406
126
242
lO.I
4.60
4.98
4-79
1885-1894
2426
12.4
6.01
5-71
5.86
1895-1899
2555
231
433
16.9
8.29
7*33
7.81
2568
263
358
495
19-3
9-29
8.29
8.80
1905-1908
2674
35 «
316
674
25.2
ir.8i
10.57
11.19
Bavaria,
359
7
6
13
3 -^
1.63
1.78
360
10
9
19
5‘3
2.70
2.44
2.57
379
20
12
32
8.4
5-01
3*07
4*05
1900-1904
425
21
17
3 «
8.9
4.71
4.29
1905-1908
405
20
19
39
9.6
4.71
4-48
4*59
Berlin, -
1901-1904
615
134
84
218
35-4
17,89
12.02
15.06
1905-1906
626
158
116
274
43.8
20,15
15-^3
17,96
l^ainbnrg.
Frankfort-on-
1903-1905
105
26
26
52
49.5
19.85
19.S5
29-85
Main,
1905-1909
154
19
19
38
24.7
10.98
10.98
10,98
Breslau,
1905-1906
13S
12
zx
23
16.7
8.00
7*38
7.69
Munich,'
Ctoiotten-
190^1908
44
7
9
16
36.4
13*73
16.98
7.81
15.38
bmg,
V '
1895-1905
59
9
5
23.7
13.24
H
d
H
The percentage of mixed marriages to Jewish
was oa the average 22.2 in Germany beiweai
i64 the jews of TO-DAY
the years 1904 and 1908. Bavaria, which is the leading
state of all Catholic South Germany, has only 9.6 per
cent., thus coming below the general average ; Prussia
{i.e. Protestant Northern and Central Germany) has 25.2
per cent., something above it. Berlin and Hamburg
have no less than 43.8 and 49.5 mixed marriages,
respectively, to 100 Jewish marriages. For the whole
of Germany 1904-1908, the average of Jews or Jewesses
marrying out of the faith was 9.97 per cent. ; in Berlin
it was 17.96 per cent. ; in Hamburg 19.95 per cent.
As a general rule intermarriage of Jewish men with
Christian women is far more common than that of Chris-
tian men with Jewish women. This is specially the case
in Berlin, Charlottenburg and Hamburg. During the
period 1875-1884 this was not so, probably because at
that time it was the fashion for poor Christians of
noble families to marry rich Jewesses. With the
advent of anti-Semitism (about 1880) marriage with
a Jew or Jewess came to be looked upon as something
of a m^saUiance; especially so in the case of the
Jewish wife, as, under present conditions in Germany,
wives are easier to find than husbands. Thus, in cases
of intermarriage, a Jewish man often seems to b<
marrying bdow his rank. The following table differ
Mitiates the sects to which the Christians who inter
many belong. It shows that hy far the greate
part are Protestant.
The percentage of Protestants in Germany in 1905
was 62.1 per cent, of the general population, so that
then percentage of mixed marriages is out of propor-
tion to their numbos. The contrary is seen with the
Catholics, in spite of the fact that Jews are as nmnerous
in the Gatholic as in tire Protestant districts. The
reascais for thiaare firstly that the large cities, with th^
INTERMARRIAGE
165
disproportionate percentage of mixed marriages, are
mostly situated in Protestant districts, and secondly
that Catholicism has far more hold on the people, and
hinders them from intermarrying.
Year.
Man
and
Wife
Jewish.
Husband, Jewish.
Wipe,
Wipe, Jewish,
Husband,
Protes-
tant.
Catho-
lic.
Other
Christ.
Sects.
Other
Relig-
ions.
Protes-
tant
Catho-
lic.
Other
Christ
Sects.
Other
Relig-
KXSS.
1901
3.878
258
67
13
4‘
222
76
16
2
1902
3>925
244
75
8
4
217
63
II
4
1903
3.831
279
68
II
5
218
70
13
4
1904
4,001
316
74
16
6
256
74
5
I
1905
3,905
361
74
14
9
255
85
16
4
1906
4,080
330
87
18
5
297
91
22
5
1907
4,052
389
84
21
I
305
96
19
5
1908
3,907
382
92
35
7
310
88
19
6
Aver. 1901-8
3,947
1
320
78 ;
17 i
1
5
260
80
15
4
[n iatennarriage with. J ewish husband, 76.19 % of all casesare Protestant.
>1 », wife, 7^*4^ „ ,»
[n total average of intermaniages, 74.45 % „ „ „
Statistics for Prussia, Saxony, Hamburg and Bremen
give the actual numbers of mixed couples. Hius in
■ Prussia there were the following number ;
In the Year.
^ With
Jewish Husband.
With
Jewi^ Wife.
ToteL
1885
1,100
1,01 1
2 ,III
1890
1,505
1,258
a.763
1895
1,757
1,530
3.S87
1900
2.^2
1,810
4.052
1905
2,931
2,186
S.«7
’ In Saxony (1905) to 2*174 Jewidr there were 292
mixed marriages (213 with Jewish husbands, 79 with
Jewish wife) =13.4 per cent, mixed marriages. In
jHambuig (i^) to 3,022 Jewish there were 158 mixed
i66
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
marriagesAvith Jewish wife and273 with Jewishhusband :
thus altogether 14.3 per cent, of mixed marriages.
In Austria, as we have already mentioned, marriage
between Christian and Jew is forbidden, but inter-
marriage with persons of “ no religious confession " is
allowed. Thus, if a couple wish to marry, one of them
Christian, the other Jewish, the only courses they can
tahe are for one of them either to adopt the faith of the
other, or to declare him or herself of no religious con-
fession. If the first alternative is adopted the marriage
is not counted as “ mixed ” statistically ; and in the
second case the marriage is registered as the marriage
of a Jew or Christian (as the case may be) with a person
of no confession. It is only the former cases {i.e.
marriages between Jews and persons of no confession)
which can be reckoned as mixed marriages of Jew and
Christian with any certainty ; ^ in cases where a Christian
marries in this way, the non-confessional party is indeed
very often, but by no means always, Jewish by birth.
We must bear these facts in mind when we study the
figures for mixed marriages in Austria, set out below.
In Austria there were contracted on an average
yearly ;
Year.
{
Purely Jewish
Marriages.
Marriages between Jews ANb Persons
OF NO Religious Confession.
In actual Figures.
Per 100 purely
Jewish Marriag<^.
1881-1884
3.287
52
I.5S
1885-1894
4.576
61
1-33
1895-1899
5.781
122
2. II
1900-1904
7,445
148
1.99
1905-1906
7,816
160 1
1
2.05 ’
lEven these mixed marriages include many cases of majiiage
between Jews and baptised or non-confessing Jews, though the^j
INTERMARRIAGE
i6y
The remarkable increase in Jewish marriages is due
to the fact that until a short tune ago marriages in
Austria and in Galicia in particular were cdebrated
according to Jewish ritual only, and were not con-
sidered valid in the eye of the law. In recent timp<;
even the Galician Jews are tending more and more to
be married civilly, and the result is seen in the increase
of Jewish marriages in the statistics. The fact that
while mixed marriages have trebled themselves in
actual numbers, their percentage has risen only from
1.58 to 2.05 is attributable to the increase in the number
of Jewish marriages registered, the cause of which we
have just explained. The greatest number of mixed
marriages in Austria take place in Vienna, where the
yearly average was :
1
Year.
1
i
!
Jewish Marriages.
Marriages between Jews and Persons
OF NO Religious Confession.
Actual Figures,
Per 100 purely
Jewish Marriages.
1881-1884
390
42
10.8
1885-1894
538
48
8.9
1895-1899
839
76
9.1
1900-1903
864
92
10.7
1904-1907
963
107
II. I
Besides Vienna, Trieste and Bohemia (Prague) witness
a great deal of intermarriage. On the other hand, it
is almost tmknown in Galicia and Bukovina : from
1900-1903 there were only sis intamarriages in the
whole of Galicia, and not a single one in Bukovina.
clearly cannot be called mixed marriages. On the other hand
when l>Qih contracting parties are converted or non-confessing Jews
before marriage these cases are not registered as mixed marriages.
i68 THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
In Hungary the following number are contracted on
an average yearly ;
Year.
Je\dsh
Maxriages.
Mixed Marriages.
Per 100
ptirely
Jewish
Marriages.
Jewish
Husband.
Jewish
Wife.
Total.
1895-1899, -
6,694
1
184
188
372
5*56
1900-1904, -
6,754
224
218
442
6.53
1905-1906, -
6,889
268
237
505
7*33
1907-1908, -
7.239
3II
345
656
9.06
We see that in the relatively short time since the
law forbidding intermarriage was repealed (1895)
intermarriage has been on the increase. The following
percentage of Jews married out of the faith :
Of every too Married Jewish
jfear.
Men.
Women.
Average of
Men and Women
together.
1895-1899, -
2.68
2.73 j
2.70
1900-1904, -
-
3.21
3-13 i
3 -i 6
1905-1906, -
-
3-74
3.32
3-54
1907-1908, -
4.12
4-55
4-33
Capital cities offer the widest field for intermarriage in
every coxmtiy : thus, in Hungary, Budapest gives the
foUowing figures :
Year.
Jewish
Marriages.
Mixed Marriages.
Per xoo
purely
Jewish
Marriages.
Jewish
Husband.
Jewish
Wife.
Total.
1896-1900, -
I901-I904, -
I.I95
1.275
86
104
93
107
INTERMARRIAGE
169
Percentage of Jews marrying out of the faith ;
Of every ioo Married Jewish
Year.
Men. 1
i —
Women.
ATerwof
Men ajHi womea
together.
1896-1900, -
6.71
7.22
6.97
I9OI-I904, -
7*54
7*74
7.64
In Holland we have statistics for Amsterdam only,
hut, as more than half the Dutch Jews live in Amster-
dam, we can get a general idea of conditions therefrom.
For the years 1899-1908 the average yearly number of
Jewish marriages contracted was 381, of mixed mar-
riages, 43, i.e. 11.3 per cent! of Jewish marriages.
In Roumania intermarriage does not assume large
proportions. For the years 1896-1899, there were aa
an average 17 mixed to 1,503 Jewish marriages, thus
i.i per cent, of Jewish marriages. In Roumania also
most of the intermarriage goes on in Bukarest :
Year.
Jewish
Mar-
riages.
Mixed Marriages.
Per soo
Jewish
Husband.
1
Jewish Wife.
TotaL
Mme^cs.
1898-1899,
1904-1905.
303
242
'miknowii
2
tic^nown
7
14
9
4.6
3*7
In reviewing all these facts we find that we can
divide countries into four distinct classes, acccwding to
the amount of intennaniage which goes or within
them.
In the fast class we include those countries wh^
mixed marriages are tes than 2 per cent. : Galkm,
170
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
Bukovina, Roumania and the Jewish immigrant areas
of England, France and the United States.
In the second class (intermarriages from 2 to 10 per
cent.) we place Catholic Germany, Hungary (excluding
Budapest) and Bohemia.
To the third class belong Protestant Germany, Hol-
land, Austria (Vienna and Budapest). Here inter-
marriage goes on to the extent of from 10 to 30 per
cent, of Jewish marriages, and shows signs of rapid
increase. It does not as yet threaten to disrupt the
Jewish population, though it seriously reduces its
numbers.
Finally, in the fourth class come Deninark, Australia
and Italy. Here one-third of Jewish marriages are
mixed marriages, and constitute a serious menace to^
the continued existence of the already scanty Jewish
population in these countries, as the children of the
mixed marriages are practically all brought up in the
Christian faith. The same thing applies to the Jewish
commxmities which have been long established in
England, France and the United States of America.
A few large German towns (Berlin, Hamburg) should
be included also in this fourth class.
The likeness these four classes present to the four
sections of Jewry, described in our first chapter, is
obvious. Nor is this surprising, considering that the
same cause is at the root of both — ^namely, the partici-
pation of Jews in modem culture and capitalistic
economic life. The more Jews and Christians mix
with one another in economic and social life, the
more likely is it that they will intermarry with one
anothCT.
Intermarriage has been denounced by the enemies
of Jews almost as much as by lovers of Judaism;
INTERMARRIAGE
171
especially by Diibring in his book The Jewish Question
as a question of Racial Degeneration [Die Ji^enfrage
als Frage der Rassenschddlichkeit). His chief argnment
is that Jewish blood destroys the pure “ Aryan ” race,
and that the physiological antipathy is such that
marriage between the two races is unnatural. But the
strongest argument against this statement is the fact
of the spread of intermarriage. The parties who con-
tract the marriage are surely the best judges as to
whether there exists any physical antipathy ! What-
ever antipathy to the Jewish type may exist is, like
that of the orthodox Jew of East Europe to the Chris-
tian, more a social than a ph5^ological Jand instinctive
aversion. The one really important race distinction,
skin-colour, a distinction which often calls up a deep-
seated instinctive antipathy, does not enter into the
question between Jews and Europeans.
On the other hand, intermarriage is welcomed by
many Christians. Ed. v. Hartmann, for example,
considers “ the providential admixture of Jewish blood
an unmixed blessing for the Teuton race,” and looks
forward eagerly to ” a complete assimilation,’* the
accomplishment of which in time he " does not doubt.” *
The increasing spread of intermarriage is indeed not
likely to be hindered by any race theories, so long as
the social differences between Christians and Jews are
wiped out, and the path to intermarriage made snooth.
B. The children of mixed marriages.
The number of children bom of mixed marriages
has risen of late years in the same d^ee as inter-
marriage has increased.
^ J 3 as Judenittm in Gegenuxai und Zukvnfi {Beriin, 1885).
172
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
AVERAGE ANNUAL NUMBER OF JEWISH BIRTHS
IN PRUSSIA (INCLUDING STILL-BORN CHILDREN).
Year.
Of purely
Jewish
Marriages.
Op Mixed Marriages.
To every 100
Births of Purelj
Jewish Marri-
ages there were
bom of Mixed
Marriages.
With !
Jewdsh
Husband.
With
Jewish
Wife.
j
Total.
1875-1879,
11,113
164
223
387
3-48
1880-1884,
10,288
207
265
472
4-59
1885-1889,
9,083 1
261
265
526
5*79
1890-1894,
8,354
281
294
575
6.88
1895-1899,
7,619
304
318
622
8.16
1900-1904,
7,097
348
354
702
9.89
1905-1906,
6,900
386
401
787
11.41
1907-1908,
6,627
39 *
405
797
12.03
In Prussia, as we see from the table, the average of 387
in the years 1875-79 i^ose to an average of 797 in 1907-08,
while simultaneously the number of children bom of
JewMi marriages fell from 11,113 to 6,627. The result
is that the percentage of children of mixed marriages
to that of the children of Jewish marriages rose from
3.48 per cent, in 1875-79 to 12.03 per cent, in 1907-08.
In Bavaria there were bom on an average ;
AVERAGE ANNUAL NUMBER OF JEWISH BIRTHS
IN BAVARIA.
Year.
Of purely
Jewish
Marriages.
Of Mixed Marriages.
To every 100
Births of Purely
Jewish Marri-
ages there were
bom of Mixed
Marriages.
Jewish
Husband.
Jewish
-Wife.
Total.
1876-1879,
1,677
3
11
14
0.83
18S0-1884,
1.544
9
12
21
1.36
1885-1889,
1,299
17
15
32
2.46
1890-1894,
21
16
37
3-29
1895-1899,
988
26
20
46
4,66
igoo-1904.
937
32
26
58
6.19
1905-191^.
911
31
21
52
5 ‘ 7 i
1907-1908,
897
35
. ^5
60
6.69
INTERMARRIAGE 173
In Bavaria the increase is le§s than in Prussia.
Nevertheless, the table shows that in Bavaria also
children of mixed marriages were 6.69 per cent, of
the children of Jewish marriages, while their percentage
in 1876-79 was only 0.83 per cent.
In Hungary there were bom on an average :
Year.
Of purely
Jewish
Marriages.
Of Mixed Marriages.
Per 100 Births
of Purely Jewish
Marxiages
there were born
of Mixed
Marriages.
Jev^h
Itusband.
Jewish
Wife.
TotaL
1897-1901,
26,212
I16
137
253
0.97
1903-1904,
25,020
174
202
376
1.50
1906,
24,067
212
239
451
1.87
Here again we have a considerable increase.
In Holland 2,395 children were bom of Jewish
marriages, 74 of mixed marriages with a Jewidi father,
and 41 of mixed marriages with a Jewish mother.
The children of mixed marriages are therefore 4.8 per
cent, of the children of Jewish marriages.
In Copenhagen by the census of 1906 there were
only 783 children bom of the 376 Jewish marriages, as
against 370 bom of the 159 mixed marriages, so that
the issue of mixed marriages was almost half as large
(to be exact 47.2 per cent.) as that of the Jewish
marriages.
Other countries have unfortunately no similar data
as to the rdigion of the parents. Still, the foregoing
figures will suffice to show tl^t the children of intCT-
marriage are an ever-growing factor of the Jewish
populatk>n, and one which will grow larger as mixed
marriages mcreaSe in number.
It has been urged against mixed marriages between
174
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
two persons of different race, that they are less fecund;
than other marriages. Statistics to substantiate this
are, however, not available. It could only be proved'
with any certainty if one were to investigate the issue
of pure and mixed marriages, and see how many
children had been bom of each within a certain time
after marriage : and no such investigation has been
made. Nevertheless, it is probable that childlessness
is more common in intermarriage than in pure mar-
riages. A census in Prassia in 1905 showed that no
fewer than 1,940 out of 5,117 mixed marriages, i.e.
37.91 per cent., were sterile. In Breslau the following
number in 1905 had no issue :
Of mixed marriages between :
Protestant Husbands and Catholic
Wives, 24.5 per cent.
Catholic „
„ Protestant
„ 24-3 »
Jewish
Protestant
47-7
Jewish
CathoHc
37-9 1,
Protestant
Jewish
47-9
Catholic
Jewish
46.7 ..
The percentage of childless marriages was thus
higher in mixed marriages of Christian and Jew than
Catholic and Protestant.
The cause of the more frequent sterility might easily
be proved by natural science. Just as certain differing
zoological species cannot be crossed, so it is possible
that to an extent difference of race is responsible for
sterility.
C, Losses to Jtdaism caused hy intermarnage.
spread of intermarriage ccmstitutes a two-fold
io Judaism ; in the first place, through the
of the vastly pi:^^>ond^ratmg number
boin of mboed imimages who are brought
INTERMARRIAGE
175
lup outside the community ; in the second place, the
^mlitaiive loss of race purity by admixture of non-
IJewish blood.
Prussian statistics of the “ Religion of children
of mixed marriages, living with their parents ” give
I us ample material for demonstrating the amount of
quantitive loss. From the census of 1905 we find that
kthe number of such children was :
Brought up as
Children of
Mixed Marriages with
Percentage
IN Mixed Marriages with
Jewish
Husband.
Jewish
Wife.
Total.
Jewish
Husband.
Jewish
Wife.
Average
TotaL
'Jewish, -
972
619
1,591
24.61
20.18
22,67
Christian, -
2,897
2,332
5.229
73-36
76.04
74-53
Freethinh±ig, - i
80
II6
196
2.03
3.7^
2.80
} Total,
1
3^949
3,067
7,016
100.00
100.00
100.00
' Here we see that of all the children of mixed mar-
riages living in the houses of their parents only 22.67
fper cent, remained Jewish, whereas theoreticaJly one
would expect one-half to belong to the Jewish region.
A comparison with former caisus returns shows how
the percentage of children of mixed marriages who
remain Jewish has steadfly decreased since 1890. It
■ 24.78 per c^t. in 1885
25.48 „ „ 1890
24.47 „ „ 1895
24.21 „ „ 1900
22.67 „ „ 1905
The decrease between the years 1900 and 1905 fe
duetotbefaettt^ the percentage of children of nfixed
176 THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
marriages (Jewish father) remaining Jewish was!
27.67 per cent, in 1900, 24.61 per cent, in 1905 ; in
mixed marriages with a Jewish mother the percentage
rose slightly from 20.08 per cent, in 1900 to 20.18 per
cent, in 1905. Of the sons of mixed marriages 22.14
per cent, remained Jewish ; of the daughters 23.21 pen
cent. We may perhaps assume from this that the
tendency to bring up the children in the Christian,
rdigion is stronger in the case of boys than in that of
girls.
If we distinguish the various religions of the non-
Jewish side of naixed marriages, we find that
in marriages with a Protestant Husband or Wife, 20.39 per cent,
„ „ Catholic „ 24.03 „
„ „ Freethinking
or Dissenting „ „ 48.04 „
of the diildren remain Jewish.
Thus intermarriage with Protestants is the most
derogatory to Judaism. Protestantism being the
T illing religion, it naturally exerts the greatest power
of attraction. In mixed marriages with Freethinkers
or Dissenters the average of children who remain
Jewish is 48.04 per cent., or almost one-half, and in
mixed marriages between a Freethinking or Dissent-
ing wife and Jewish husband, the percentage of
children remaining Jewish is 59.60 per cent., or more
than half. But here we must take into consideration
the Prussian law of the 14th May, 1873, by which
the cMd of a Christian or Jewish father was not
allowed to be registered as a dissenter until after his
fourteenth year, so that many who would otherwi^
have been dissenters, were still nominally attadied
to the Jewish community.
The above table does not convey an exact idea ojj
INTERMARRIAGE
177
the losses Judaism sufiers through intermarriage. The
numbers have reference only to the children who are
still living in their parents’ households, i.e. chiefly
juveniles. But there is not the slightest doubt that
many children of such marriages who, by the wiU of
their parents, have been brought up as Jews, will revert
to Christianity as soon as they are grown up. Ihe
fact that they have a number of Christian relatives,
and are only half-Jewish by blood, facilitates their
change of religion. It is not too much to say that of
the 22.67 P6r cent, of children of mixed marriages,
who by iiieir parents’ wish have remained Jewish, at
least one-half fall away from Judaism as they grow
up ; thus only about 10 per cent, remain definitely
Jews and marry in the Jewish community.
In Saxony, by the census of 1905, the following
number of children of mixed marriages remained
Jewish :
In Mixed Marriages With
Total Number
of Children.
Remaining
Jewish.
Percentage.
Jewish husband, -
II 7
18
15-4
Jewish wife, - - -
53
7
13*2
Of these, again, 10 per cent, at most remain Jews.
In Hrmgary those about to contract a mixed mar-
riage can maie an agreement as to the religion they
wish their children to have. In the absence of sudi
an agreement, the sons follow the rdigion of the father,
the daughters that of the mother. In the 4,822 mixed
marriages contracted between 1896 and 1906, agreements
, were made in i,x8i cases (24.49 cent.), but were
omitted in 3,641 cases (75.51 per cent.). Following the
M
178 THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
agreements 465 children of mixed marriages with
Jewish fathers {i.e. 83.33 per cent.) were brought up
as Christians, 93 [i.e. 16.67 cent.) as Jews ; of the
children of mixed marriages with Jewish mothers 549
(88.12 per cent.) became Christians, and only 74 (11.88
per cent.) remained Jews — an average of 14.04 per
cent, remaining Jewish.
In Denmark, before a mixed marriage can be entered
upon, the law demands a statement as to the religion
to which the children will belong. In Copenhagen
there were 21 such declarations from mixed marriages
between Christians and Jews (in the years 1893 and
1903) ; in 13 cases (62 per cent.) the religion of the
children was to be Christian, in 7 cases (33 per cent.)
Jewish. In one case the boys were to be brought up
as Jews, the girls as Christians.
The statistics drawn from the census of 1906 are
stiE less favourable to Jews. By these there were 370
children bom of 159 mixed marriages, and of these
16.5 per cent, were brought up as Jews, 77,8 per cent,
as Christians, 5.7 per cent, as Dissenters.
In New South Wales it is surprising to find that in
mixed marriages, where the wife is Jewish, conditions
are more favourable to Judaism than where the hus-
band is a Jew, 36.36 per cent, of the children remaining
Jewish in the former case, and only 26.99 per cent, in
the latter. It would seem from this that, contrary
to the practice in Europe, the mother in Australia has
more control than the father over the education and
rdigion of the child.
, Similar statistics are not forthcoming from other
countries, but conditions are very much the same
everywhere. In France— as De-la-Roi remarks i~the
* Jitdmtaufen im 19, Jahrhwndert (Berlin, 1899).
INTERMARRIAGE
179
number of children of mixed marriages brought to the
ifont exceeds the number of actual converts.
We can no longer consider the losses entailed by
intermarriage a negligible quantity in Judaism. In
Himgaiy in 1907 the 462 children of mixed marriages
■ constituted 1.93 per cent., in Prussia 776 children, 11.67
per cent., and in Berlin 225 children, 15.15 per cent., of
! the children of Jewish marriages. When we remember
the declining birth-rate of the Jews, we realise that the
losses through intermarriage are very serious.
The qualitative loss to the Jewish race is also of
some importance. Thus in Prussia some 700 children
of half-Jewish blood are added to the Christian, and
some 100 to the Jewish population every year through
mixed marriages. In addition to which we must add
the number of illegitimate births, Christian as well as
Jewish (the latter amounting to about 300 yearly), in
which the father of the child of a Christian mother
may have been a Jew, and the father of the child of a
Jewish mother, a Christian. This infiltration of Jewish
blood has as yet left hardly any visible traces on the
' racial characteristics of the Christian population ; it
is only in the large towns, with teeming populations
in which mixed marriages and conversions are common,
that a certain change can be noticed in the national
t3^e. It may perhaps not be too bold an assumption
to submit that the vivacity and proverbial sharpness
' of the population of Berlin, and the prevalence of the
dark-haired type, are both attributable to a dash of
Jewish blood. The effect of intermarriage on the Jews
is much stronger ; although in point of numbers the
additions through mixed marriages are far smaller
than among the Christians ; still the hundred or
"so children that mixed marriages bring yearly to
i8o THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
Judaism, are about 1.5 per cent, of the children of
Jewish marriages ; while the 700 that fall to the;
Christians are only 0.06 per cent, of the children of
Christian marriages. Reckoning that about half the
300 illegitimate Jewish children have Christian fathers,
the percentage of children who are received into the
Jewish community of half-Jewish blood is 3.7 per
cent, of the number of Jewish births. It is natural
that such a proportion must, in course of time, con-
siderably modify the race-character of the Jews.
CHAPTER XL
BAPTISM.
A. Conversion in former times.
Baptism in its results is akin to intermarriage.
Intermarriage thins the ranks of Judaism by absorbing
a large part of the offspring into Christianity ; baptism
achieves the same end by releasing members of the
Jewish faith from the Jewish community by means of
a lawful act performed for the purpose, with the result
that in time they are completely swallowed up by
Christian nationalities.
Conversion from Judaism to other religions is no
new feature in Jewish history ; it occurred frequently
even in the days of the existence of a Jewish State,
wherever Jews lived scattered among other nations ;
thus, for example, in the year 40 a.d. many conversions
from Judaism to Paganism followed on the Jewish per-
secutions in Alexandria.^ The son of the Arabarch
Alexander himself — the leader of the Jewish com-
munity in Alexandria — was one of the apostates, and,
as a reward for abandoning Jehovah for the Roman
gods, had many honours conferred upon him by Rome.
This is but a typical instance. An astounding number
of Jewish converts to other creeds have achieved high
social standing.
* Graetz, History of the Jews, voL Ui. p. 344.
i82
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
Voluntary or enforced conversion from Judaism to
Christianity went on throughout the Middle Ages. A
proof of the extent to which this took place in some
countries is the fact that in Spain, to this very day —
four hundred years after the expulsion of the Jews from
that country— tile Jewish type is very prevalent,
particularly among the upper classes.^
Compared with the nmnber of Jewish converts to
other religions, that of converts to Judaism is very
s m all. In the first centuries before and after Christ,
Judaism was indeed a great attractive force with the
heathen, and there was a very considerable number of
Jewish proselytes,* apart from the Idumaeans, who
were converted to Judaism by force of arms. But
this spread of the Jewish faith ceases almost entirely
at the end of the first century a.d. Paul’s propaganda,
and the growing strength of Christianity took the wind
out of its sails. Christianity conveyed to the heathen
the main idea of Judaism — monotheism — without the
burden of the ceremonial, and the national pride of
the bom Jew,® and from that time onwards the Jewish
mission was rejected in favour of Christianity. The
conversion to Judaism of some Arab tribes in Yemen
(S. Arabia) at the beginning of the sixth century,
under King Jussuf, exercised no lasting effect, as
Jussuf’s kingdom was broken up 530 a.d., and all that
remained of Judaism there was afterwards engulfed in
Islam. The only other wholesale conversion to Judaism
took place in the eighth century a.d., when the King of
the Chazars — a people living on the banks of the Lower
^ Cf. Joseph Jacobs On the Racial Characteristics of Modern
Jews/* in the Journal of the Anthropological Inztitute^ vol. xv. p, 24.
®Cf. Josephus, The Wars of the Jews, vol, ii. 18, 2 ; vii. 3, 3, etc.
^ Cf. Hamack, The Mission and Propagation of Christianity^
BAPTISM
X83
Volga — followed by Ms Court, embraced Judaism. It
is, however, doubtful whether the Jewish religion was
so far adopted and practised by the Chazars as to have
outhved the Chazar kingdom, wMch was destroyed at
the beginning of the eleventh century.^
The admission of Jews to modem European culture
at the beginning of the nineteenth century occasioned
a great number of conversions to Christianity. Hardly
a single famous Jew of the time in Germany avoided
this step. Leopold Zunz himself, who devoted Ms life
to the study of Jewish literature, describes his fidehty to
Judaism as the " great cage of Ms soul.” In the short
period between 1819-1823 in Berlin, wMch contained
at that time 3,610 Jewish inhabitants, there were no
less than 1,236 converts to Christianity, and in the
rest of Prussia 1,382. From 1850-1880 the conver-
tionist movement in Germany abated considerably,
because at tMs time Liberalism was in full sway, and
the profession of Judaism entailed no social disrespect
and exclusion, and there was thus no occasion for
conversion. The rate of baptism reached its lowest
point in 1876, when in Prussia only 50 Jews were bap-
tised. Since then — ^that is, since the beginning of the
anti-Semitic movement in Germany — ^the figures have
risen again rapidly.
, The following table at the conclusion of an essay of
De-la-Roi’s, summarises the total number of conversions
from Judaism to Christianity in the nineteenth century.
De-la-Roi remarks that wherever Ms figures rest on
estimates he has been most careful to choose a lower in
preference to a higher, and it is quite conceivable that
Ms approximate calculation of 204,500 Jewish baptisms
^ The theory that the Karaites in Crimea of to-day are descendants
of the Chazars cannot be unconditionally accepted.
i84 the jews of TO-DAY
in the nineteenth century not only does not exceed the
actual number, but may perhaps fall slightly short of
it. It must be noticed that this figure includes neither
Jewish converts to dissenting creeds nor baptised
children of mixed marriages.
DEFECTIONS FROM JUDAISM.
In
To
Total.
Protestant
Church.
Roman
Catholic
Church.
Greek
Church-
Prussia, - - -
13,128
Bavaria,
330
Saxony,
770
y 5,000
y 22,520
Wurtemberg,
1
Rest of Germany,-
3 »X 77
J
;
Great Britain,
28,830
28,830
Holland,
1,800
1,800
Sweden and Norway, -
500
500
Denmark, -
100
100
Switzerland,
100
100
France,
600
1.800
2,400
Austria,
'6,300
28,200
} 44,756
Hungary. -
2,056
8,000
j' 200
Russia,
3.136
12,000
69,400
84,536
Italy, - - - -
300
300
Roumania, -
1,500
1,500
Turkey, - , -
3,300
3,300
Rest of Balkan Penin., -
100
100
Asia and Africa, -
100
500
600
Australia, - - -
200
200
North America, -
ii, 5<50
1,500
13,000
Total, -
72,742
57,300
74,500
204,542
B. Baptism at the present day.
The frequency of defection from Judaism during the
last two decades will be seen from the following table.
This shows that the number of converts yearly among
10,000 Jews rises from i (in Galicia) to 40 (in Vienna).
BAPTISM
185
Conversions from Judaism
Conversion
per 10,000
Jews
yearly-
In
Years.
1 Annual
Average.
Galicia and Bukovina,
1900-1903
ca. 90
I
Russia, - - - -
i88i-i8go
689
1*5
1891-1897
1021
2
Hungary,
1896-1907
446
5
Germany,
1896-1900
480
8
1904
497
8
Servia, - - - -
1894-1903
6
10
Budapest, - - -
1903
226
13
Berlin, - - - -
1899-1903
153 '
15
Austria (excluding Galicia
and Bukovina), ■
1900-1903
ca. 800
25
Dresden, - - - -
1886-1906
10
33
Vienna, - - - -
1901-1905
580
39
1906
643
40
We will now separately consider each country of
which we have accurate statistics with regard to con-
versions. In Russia the numbers of annual Jewish
conversions to the Greek Church varied considerably in
the nineteenth century. They rose at times of Jewish
persecution and oppression, only to fall ag^in when these
ceased.^ Thus, the annual number of baptisms from
1836-1840 was on an average 394, rising in the decade
1841-1850 to an average of 1,540, and reaching its
climax in 1854 with 4,439, after which it decreased.
From 1881-1890 the yearly average was 689, from
1891-1894 it rose again to 1,021.
Galicia and Bukovina, where baptism is very rare,
must be distinguished from the rest of Austria : there
^ In Russia, till quite recently, return to the Greek Church was
impossible for an apostate from it. Anyone could become a member
of the Church, but defection from it into another religion was for-
bidden by law and severely punished. This enactment was first
susp^ded in 1909 by the law relating to freedom of religion.
i86
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
conversion is practically confined to Cracow and Lem-
berg, and even in those places it reaches no higher figure
tbari about one to every 10,000 Jewish inhabitants.
In the rest of Austria, however, conversion is far more
prevalent, particularly in Vienna — ^the metropolis of
converts — ^for which we give accurate figures below.
According to a calculation of Thon, the defections in all
Austria amounted to about 900 converts annually in
the years 1900-1903, i.e. one to every 1,480 Jews, in
Austria. Excluding Galicia, Bukovina and Vienna,
the figure is one convert to every 500 Jews.
In the kingdom of Hungary in the twelve years
1896-1907 a total of 5,148 Jews (2,603 male and 2,545
female) were converted to Christianity, and 1,065 Chris-
tians (471 male and 594 female) re-embraced Judaism
{i.e. returned to the Jewish religion, after having de-
serted to Christianity), giving a totail loss of 4,083 souls
to Judaism. The Christian converts to Judaism (when
they are not baptised Jews, who compose almost a third
of all the converts) are practically without exception
cases of conversion due to marriage with a Jew or
Jewess, and it is doubtful whether these proselytes and
their descendants will long remain faithful to Judaism.
However this may be, these conversions prove that
numbers of Jews ding so faithfully to Judaism that
they not only refuse all the sodal advantages afforded
by conversion to Christianity, but actually achieve the
conversion of their Christian mates to Judaism in
spite of all its social obstades. From 1901-1905 con-
version increased markedly in Hungary, for Jewish
defections to Christianity which amounted in 1896-1900
to an average of 261, rose in 1901-1905 to 420, to fall
again in the years 1906-1907 to 370. To these must be
added the Jews who became Freethinkers, amounting
BAPTISM
187
from 1896-1907 to 201 persons, i.e. about 17 annually.
It is interesting to observe what numbers of Jews in
Hungary have changed their names. Of a,X48 persons
who adopted Hungarian names in the first six months
of 1902, there are 95 of the name of Kahn and many
Blaus, Brauns and Weisses, who are undoubtedly Jews.
It is impossible to trace in how many cases the change
of name has been accompanied by baptism.
In Servia from 1894-1903 there were baptised annu-
ally an average of six Jews, or one to every 1,000.
In Germany the only statistics to hand are those of
the Protestant National Church, those of converts to
Catholicism being unknown. In the years 1896-1900
the annual average of Jewish conversions to Protes-
tantism was 480, increasing in 1904 to 497. Against
this from 1896-1900 the annual average of Christian
conversions to Judaism is 25, and in the year 1904, 52,
which, ' when compared to the corresponding higher
figures in Hungary, clearly goes to prove that in Ger-
many the adoption of Judaism by the Gentile is a much
rarer occurrence, and that the German Jew is a far
less zealous upholder of Judaism. Compared with the
previous decade, the number of Jewish baptisms
has greatly increased, for the annual average in the
nine old provinces of Prussia from 1881 to 1887
amounted to 160, as against 291 from 1891-1897 —
thus doubling itself, while the number of Jews was
about stationary.
The desire of the German Jew for assimilation, shown
by the rapid spread of baptism, is shown too by the
Christian names of the children, which are almost in-
variably Teutonic. Jewish names, which till about
fifty years ago were generally given to Jewish children,
are now very imcommon. The attempts of many Jews
i88
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
to change their Jewish surnames have failed up till
now, chiefly because they have been refused the neces-
sary official consent, so that Jewish surnames are still
relatively numerous. Of the 20,133 members of the
Jewish community in Berlin in the year 1904, 3 per
cent, were called Cohn (under various forms of the name)
and 1.71 per cent. Levy ; besides these, there were
numbers of other Biblical surnames.
In England, where there are no obstacles to the
change of names, Jewish immigrants of the second
generation try to anglicise their names — ^at any rate
partially so that the English may be able to pronounce
them — ^thus, instead of Cohen we have Cowen, instead
of Heimann, Hymans, etc.
In this connection we would say that in HoUand also
Jewish first-names are rejected in favour of Dutch
nam^, although most Jews there are orthodox. We
have no statistics of baptism in Holland.
Baptism among the Jews thrives best in large towns,
and for many reasons. Here modem capitalistic
economic life is most highly developed, and all economic
diSerences between Christians and Jews effaced. Edu-
cation, controlled by the rationalism and anti-dogma-
tism of the day has laid a common moral foundation
for both Jews and Christians. The control of the
Jewish community over its members is relaxed because
of the large numbers of members. And finally, the
continual intermarriage of Jews and Christians, which
is most frequent in large towns, is a repeated cause of
defection to Christianity, as mixed marriage is very
closely allied to conversion. They are both the results
of the intimate relations maintained between Christians
and Jews, living the same social life based on modem
culture and economic conditions. Each reacts on the
BAPTISM
189
other ; intermarriage entailing baptism, as we have
shown, while the baptised Jew or Jewess on the other
hand invariably chooses a Christian and not a Jewish
spouse. Mixed marriage and baptism, however, differ
in one respect, namely, in the influence exercised on them
by social contempt. Intermarriage flourishes where
there is no social or religious disrespect for Judaism,
and where, therefore, intimate and easy intercourse
between Jews and Christians favours marriage between
the two. Baptism, on the other hand, is most pre-
valent where, in spite of legal equality, Jews are socially
despised, a condition which they hope to overcome by
baptism. For this reason in Australia and South
America, where Jews are in every respect the social
equals of Christians, much intermarriage but little
baptism takes place. In Vienna, on the other hand,
where violent anti-Semitism is well known to pre-
vail, the numbers of baptisms exceed those of inter-
marriage.
In Berlin there have been records of baptisms for
many years. Wliile from 1881-1887 the average annual
defection to Protestantism was only 66 — making one
convert to every 1,000 Jews ^ — ^from 1899-1903 the
annual average rose to 153, i.e. one convert to
every 800 Jews. If to these are added the converts
to Catholicism and to dissenting creeds, the total
number amoimts to at least 200 annually, i.e. one
convert to every 600 Jewish inhabitants. Although
the reports of the Berlin Jewish community from 1899-
1903 account for only 115, and from 1904-1906 for
157 persons — 107 male and 50 female — as having de-
clared their renunciation of Judaism before the Courts,
the difference is explained by the fact that in the figures
1 Refetrinfif to the Tewish oooulation of Berlin and its suburbs.
igo
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
given of the Berlin community, children of Jewish
parents baptised in extreme youth are not counted,
while the above figures of the actual baptisms (con-
versions to Protestantism) include a number of such
children.^
In Dresden from 1886-1906, 200 Jews in all became
Protestants and 15 Protestants were converted to
Judaism.
In Vieima the number of Jews who became either
Christians or Freethinkers in 1906 was 643, bringing
the percentage up to one convert to about every 229
Jews. From 1901-1905 the average number of converts
annually in Vienna was 580, which makes one to every
253 Jews yearly, while conversions fifteen years earlier,
from 1886-1890, amounted to a yearly average of 33,
i.e. one convert to every 359 Jews. Conversion, there-
fore, increased very considerably up to 1906. And
the above figures do not include children under seven
years of age, who — ^by Austrian law — change their
religion with their parents. There is, of course, the
ccmsideration that in Austria intermarriage between
Jews and Christians is forbidden. If a Jew or Jewess
wishes to marry a Christian, one or other of the parties
has either to become “ of no confession,” or to embrace
the faith of the other. This causes many defections
from Judaism which would be unnecessary in countries
where mixed marriage is acknowledged. The statistics
of both Berlin and Vienna show that the upper educated
classes — ^the so-called ” Intellectuals ” — ^are just those
who provide a disproportionate number of apostates.
Thus, in Berlin from 1873-1906, of the 1,388 converted
* In q)ite of much enquiry I have been unable to obtain accurate
statistics of infant baptism. Cf. Blau. " Defections from Judaism
in Berlin,” Zeitschriftf. Dem. u. Sfat. d. Juden, 1907, p. 145.
BAPTISM
191
Jews of definite professions, 489 = 35.9 per cent., were
University students. In Vienna in 1906, when the
total number of converted Jews was 643, no fewer than
105 of these were professional men (doctors, lawyers,
men of letters) and 40 were students and scholars — so
that the “ Intellectuals ” formed almost one-quarter
of the converts.
As against the 643 defections from Judaism in Vienna
in 1906, there were 84 converts to Judaism — quite a
considerable number. From 1901 to 1905 the average
annual number was 72. Whenever the converts are
not Jewish renegades, they are almost without excep-
tion Christians desirous of marrying Jews or Jewesses.
In Budapest in the year 1903 (the Budapest com-
munity alone, not including Ofen and Alt-Ofen) there
were 226 Jewish converts (146 male and 80 female),
and of these 214 became Christians, 12 Freethinkers.^
Hence (according to the figures given in the census of
1900) to every 748 Jews there was one convert. In
the same year, however, 45 Jews (20 men and 25
women), who had embraced other creeds, returned
. again to Judaism.
Defection to dissenting creeds is often preferred to
conversion to Christianity because it does not entail
baptism. It is less severely condemned by the Jewish
community, and it avoids the dishonour of having to
make an open confession of a faith which, in almost
every case, is adopted not out of conviction, but for
purely material reasons, as an essential of modem
culture, or else in order to facilitate marriage with a
Christian. It is with this view that Jewish parents in
Germany often have their children baptised as babies,
am indebted for these figures to the late Dr. J. v. K6rosi,
Director of the General Statistical Bureau of Budapest.
192
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
wliile they themselves remain Jewish. In the United
States, too, Jews frequently adopt one of the many
religious creeds in preference to being baptised.
C. Missionary societies.
We can dismiss with a few words those missionary
Societies which devote themselves to the conversion of
Jews to Christianity. In the whole world there are
112 such Protestant Societies alone (according to a
report for 1902) which maintain 228 mission stations
with 816 missionaries and other employees.^ Their
income amounts to over £125,000 (2| million marks),
£100,000 of which is supplied by Great Britain alone,
which country also furnishes by far the greatest numbers
of missionaries. According to De-la-Roi, 380 Jews
are brought into the Church every year by these socie-
ties, a greater number — ^said to be influenced by the
missionaries — being baptised by vicars of chmrches.
The largest of the Missionary Societies is that founded
in London in 1809 : “ The Society for Promoting
Christianity amongst the Jews,” which controls a
yearly income of £40,000 ; in 1902-1903 it spent £38,061
for its own purposes, and it supports 214 missionaries
and agents in 51 mission stations posted in different
parts of the world. From 1809-1897 the Society bap-
tised 1,871 Jews in London, and about 7,000 Jews in all
its stations. Considering the tremendous sums ex-
pended on them, these results are utterly contemptible,
specially when we reflect that the majority of the con-
VCTts would in any case have become Christians without
the intervention of the missionaries. If their activity
consisted solely in actual missionising — ^the preaching
’ Geography and Atlas of Protestant Missions, vol, ii. New York,
1906.
BAPTISM
193
of the Gospel — ^it would not have achieved even this
small result, for Jews are peculiarly irresponsive to
such propaganda. But luckily for the missionaries,
social conditions come to their aid and bring them a
few proselytes. By far the greater number of the con-
verts come from the upper classes, from the forty or
fifty thousand Jews settled for generations in England,
who have acquired wealth and position, and not from
the 200,000 Jewish immigrants from Russia, Galicia
and Roumania, who inhabit special quarters of London,
Manchester and Liverpool. The Mdiitechapel Jew is
unaffected by the missionaries of the above-mentioned
large Society and the continual agitations of a number
of smaller societies, although, living as he does often
imder the most wretched conditions, baptism would
procure him considerable material advantage, careful
attention for several months, and protection for the
future. The spirit of the Ghettos of Russia and Galicia
is still alive in him ; but whether this will be the case
in the next and following generations it is impossible
to say. It may be that the missions wiU then reap their
richest harvest from what is now very barren soil.
D. Prognostics for the future.
To take a general survey of the position, we may say
that a considerable increase is noticeable in the number
of baptisms in the western countries of to-day. The
Jewish community of Austrig, (not counting Galicia)
loses every year more than 2, of Germany at least i,
of Hungary about | per 1,000 of its members, to Chris-
tianity. On the other hand, the mass of the Jews in
Russia and Galicia — ^the first of the four classes indi-
cated in Chap. I. — ^withstand all Christian influence,
and suffer only very trifling losses. Moreover, the
N
ig4 THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
off shoots of these communities, in England and
America — ^the second class — have till now resisted
fairly successfully any tendencies towards baptism. It
is in the third dass, among the well-to-do bourgeoisie
of West and Central Europe, that aversion to baptism
first shows signs of diminution, and its possibility is
freely discussed. In the fourth class — ^which includes
the rich Jews of the capitals and Jews of University
training — ^baptism, for the children at least, haS almost
become the rule. If niimbers of men and women cannot
decide to be baptised, it is not so much because of their
love of Judaism as of their unwfllingness to face the
reproach of cowardice and treachery by deserting a
minority which is in danger, and is being attacked on
aH sides. Others cannot convince themselves of the
superiority of Christian dogmas, and are unwilling to
perjure themselves by embracing the Christian faith ;
if, however, they adopt the expedient of becoming
dissenters, the whole purpose of the change of religion,
(viz., the unconditional reception into and equality of
status in society and culture in France, Germany or
elsewhere) is often destroyed; it is actual adherence
to Christianity which is demanded, the dissenter being
firequently held in as much contempt as the Jew.
Finally, the fact that even the baptised Jew is not
at once placed on a level with the real Christian, but
is for some time treated as something intermediary
between a Jew and a Christian, acts as a deterrent.
This disrespect from the Gentile is all the more galling
for the baptised Jew, because it comes from his own
newly adopted camp, and he is a defenceless victim ;
whereas the unbaptised' Jew can proudly wrap himself
in the robe of an ancient community and an ancestral
religion. Thus anti-S^ritism, although encouraging
BAPTISM
195
baptism among weaker characters, yet holds together
a number of heterogeneous elements in Judaism, which,
without this outside pressure, might already have con-
verted. But such resistance, founded purely on senti-
ment, cannot last for many generations. Baptism is
only the last phase of assimilation, and with the
constant striving after assimilation, it will necessarily
persevere and spread. The only means of arresting it
would* be the disappearance of all social contempt for
the Jew, but then what was lost as a result of baptism
would be doubled and trebled as a result of mixed
marriages. And it is this intermarriage which is the
most serious menace to Judaism. Exclusion of inter-
marriage is what has preserved Judaism throughout
the ages ; its intrusion wiU bring about her downfall.
It might be argued that baptism has no more effect
upon the Jewish type than it has upon the negro, and
that therefore from an ethnological and anthropological
standpoint, it brings about no change. This in itself
is correct, but two circumstances operate to counteract
it : first, as has already been shown, the baptised Jew,
or at any rate his cMdren, marry Christians ; and
secondly, as the Jews everywhere constitute a small
minority of the whole population, all traces of Jewish
blood sooner or later disappear. Thus the offspring of
the baptised Jew is not only lost to Judaism, but also
to the Jewish nation.
Win the losses suffered by Judaism through baptism
continue in the future ? The answer to this question
lies in what we have already said. It must decidedly
be in the afiirmative if the process of decomposition
continues which has divided the Jews into different
sections, i.e. with the continuation of the advance of
the poor Jews with a smattering of secular education
196
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
(indicated in the first and second sections) into the ranks
of the well-to-do classes with their modem education
(the third and fourth sections) ; for these last two
sections fall away in time through baptism and inter-
marriage. The question is, therefore, whether the
tendencies which have hitherto induced Jews of the first
and second sections to aspire to join the third and
fourth, will continue in the same direction in the
future ? The economic progress of the Jews and the
growing culture of their surroundings make it clear
that the answer must be that an increase of baptism
is all that can be expected.
CHAPTER XIL
ANTI-SEMITISM AN INEFFECTIVE CHECK TO
ASSIMILATION.
A. Anti-Semitism in Germany and. Austria.
We have already seen that resistance to assimilation
is no longer to be expected from the Jews ; will it per-
haps come from the Christians ? Signs are not wanting
that to a certain section of Christians the assimilation
of the Jews is highly undesirable. We are not speaking
of Russia and the semi-civilised states of North Africa
and Asia, where Jews are subject to special legislation ^
and are, to a certain extent, prevented from assimi-
lating. Even in those countries where Jews have
1 Russian legislation in regard to Jews is very complicated. It
is founded principally on the May Laws of 1882, the so-called laws
of IgnatiefE, the principal clauses of which are :
(a) That all Jews (with the exception of those who have received
a University education, master mechanics, and merchants of the
first guild) shall reside only in Poland and the fifteen neighbouring
governmental departments — the so-called Pale of Settlement — and
shall not have the right of moving from towns to villages even
within the Pale of Settlement.
( 5 ) That, with few exceptions, any acquisition of land shall be
denied them.
(c) That their active and passive powers of voting in Local Councils
(for town magistrates, etc.) shall be restricted.
{d) That their admittance to secondary schools and Universities
shall be strictly limited, and their way barred absolutely to certain
callings, such as those of military officers, State officials, etc.
igS THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
absolute legal equality a movement called anti-Semitism
has been set on foot which aims at depriving the Jews
of their political and social rights.
The anti-Semitic movement grew up on German soil ;
it is almost as old as the enfranchisement of the Jews.
Legal equality was granted to the Jews of Germany in
1869, and already during the middle of 1870 — the so-
called year of speculation — ^when Germany was passing
through an economic crisis, the old hatred of the Jews
flamed up again, and they were accused of being the
cause of the crisis. A political party was formed with
the express and openly-avowed purpose of attacking
the Jews sociaIl3r*and politically. This party in the
Reichstag represented 248,500 votes in 1907 (2.21 per
cent, of the total suffrage) and 15 mandates. The
greatest number of its supporters came from the king-
dom of Saxony, the Grand Duchy of Hesse, and the
provinces of Hessen-Nassau and Pomerania. At the
present time the party is not making great progress ;
in fact, since 1898, when it represented 284,250 votes
= 3-7 per cent., it has retrogressed. To make up for
this, however, the powerful Conservative party in its
programme of 1892 (the so-called Tivoli programme)
took up the fight against the “ increasing and disinte-
grating influence of the Jews,” and demanded Christian
government for a Christian people, and Christian
teachers in Christian schools. The power of anti-
Sanitism to-day in Germany, and equally in Austria
(where the great Christian Socialist party is pronoun-
cedly anti-Semitic) lies not so much in the political
party which seeks in Parliament to deprive the Jews of
legal equality, as in the feeling which it has aroused
against the Jews in all classes of the population outside
the actual anti-Semitic party itsdf, and which has led
ANTI-SEMITISM AN INEFFECTIVE CHECK 199
almost to the social ostracism of the Jews. The govern-
ment, in spite of the nominal equality of the Jews, bows
to this pubhc opinion, and only in most exceptional
instances confers an official or University appointment
upon a Jew ; similarly in the army, a Jew can never
rise to the rank of officer. Anti-Semitism has destroyed
social intercourse between Jew and Christian to such
an extent — ^more particularly in the upper classes and
in University circles — ^that intercourse is either stopped
altogether, or continued under the cloak of an assumed
ignorance of the bar to really cordial relations. Even
in commercial relations, the influence of anti-Semitism
is felt. We see this in newspaper advertisements for
partnership, etc., where we read "only Christians need
apply,” and again in the popular refrain, " Do not buy
of Jews.”
B. Anti-Semitism in other countries.
In Roumania anti-Semitism is stronger even than in
Germany and Austria, and here the government assists
in framing rules for the degradation of the Jews. By
Article 44 of the Treaty of Berlin, 1878, legal equality
for the Jews was stipulated for by the signatory powers.
Nevertheless, the Roumanian government withholds
this equality from the great mass of its Jews ; it evades
the law by classing the Jews as " foreigners under Rou-
manian protection,” and applying against them the
laws as to foreigners. In this way the Jews are not
only deprived of their rights of citizenship, but suffer
great economic injury, as the government reserves
certain privileges exclusively for Roumanians. This is
all the more unjust since the government does not regard
the Jews as foreigners in all matters relating to their
obligations to the State, as for instance mihtary service,
_ 200
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
which Jews axe bound to perform equally with Rou-
manians. Very few Jews have so far succeeded in be-
coming naturalised, and so recogmsed as Roumanian.
By the census of 1899, the following number of Jews
were classed as
Roumaiiiaiis, ----- 4,272= 1.6 per cent.
Foreigners dependent on the State, - 2.2 „ „
Foreigners under Roumanian protection, 256,588 = 96.2 „ „
In France, the Dreyfus case showed how easily the
feeling of the masses against the Jews can be aroused,
and in the French colony of Algiers there is actually a
strong anti-Semitic party. Even in England there
exist anti-Semitic tendencies. In the United States
of America, where twenty years ago anti-Semitism was
absolutely unknown, the anti-Semitic movement has
grown so strong that it has led almost to a social boycott
of the Jews in upper circles, and to hostile anti-Jewish
demonstrations among the working classes. Over-
night, as it were, free America has become an anti-
Semitic country. The only nations which can be said
to be innocent of anti-Semitism are Italy, Holland,
Belgium, Switzerland, Norway and Sweden and the
English colonies.
C. Causes of anti-Semitism.
What is the cause of this smouldering antipathy to
the Jews, which from 1850-1875 was to all appearances
put out for ever ? The political anti-Semitism in Ger-
many and Austria arises from objections to the Jews
economically, as the typical representatives of capital
(the Stock Exchange) and landed interests, as landed
proprietors, as promoters of capitalised enterprise
(such as emporiums, etc,), as shopkeepers, artisans and.
ANTI-SEMITISM AN INEFFECTIVE CHECK 201
money-lenders. In England and America, anti-Semi-
tism arose because of the great influx of immigrants
who are used to a low standard of living, are content
to work for a low wage, and so imdercut the wages and
lower the standard of living of the native workman.
They thus incur the same hatred as is directed in an
intensified form against the Chinese, and which resulted
in the United States passing a law to restrict Chinese
immigration into the United States.
In many countries the growing importance of the
principle of nationality tends to emphasise the anti-
thesis between Jew and Christian. Thus, anti-Semitism
in Roumania — ^rightly or wrongly — ^is caused as much
by fear that the young Roumanian nation will not be
able to develop its own individuality if the Jews are
allowed to gain too much influence, as by dread of
Jewish economic competition. Similarly the Poles in
Galicia and the Magyars in Hungary are afraid of the
power of Jewish influence, which might be injurious
to the development of their own nationalities. We
say nothing of Houston Stewart Chamberlain and
his school, who see in the Jews the natural and
the oifly dangerous enemy of Germany and its
civilisation.
Social anti-Semitism takes root in countries where
n'^imbers of Jews, in a very short space of time, amass
gjjeat wealth either through business or speculation, and
wiaere they do not seek to make their culture and
manners comport with their wealth. They thus natur-
ally .preate a feeling of disgust in upper social circles to
which their great wealth gives them access. It is in
America particularly that these nouveaux riches abound,
where the rich Jews serve as a t 37 pe of the 'parvenu,
and where he has to submit to ■^e contempt of the
202
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
settled American aristocracy and the denial of any
social intercourse. In Germany and Austria the intro-
duction of Jews into official and upper circles is resented
in the same way.
From the sociological point of view there is nothing
imcommon in all this. It is an echo of the fight between
the connuhium et commercium of ancient Rome, and
the battle of the guilds in the town republics of the
Middle Ages. Wherever a hitherto despised class —
conscious of its advance on the social ladder — seeks
admittance to higher circles, it arouses an antagonism
which is, however, generally overcome in the lapse of
time. In a democratic State, where no privileges of
birth or standing exist, class-distinctions merely repre-
sent degrees of wealth, but a certain amount of time
has always to elapse before things are established in
their true relations.
D. The importance of anti-Semitism in the assimila-
, Uonist movement.
We now come back to our original question, whether
nti-Semitism serves as a check to assimilation. Up
10 a certain point it certainly does.'*' Wherever anti-
Semitism puts a stop to, or at any rate hinders, social
and commercial relations between Christians and Jews,
^e find the Jews associating only with their own people.
There has been some talk of " The New Ghetto,” which
is the outcome of this state of things. It is certain that
many mixed marriages have been avoided by the " cessa-
tifHi of intercourse,” and pef^ps many a Jew who
would otherwise have become inverted has remained
staunch to Judaism, unwilling & tuni traitor, and leave
his^people iathdr time of need^ But on the whole, anth
Semitic can hardly be c^^^red a real obstacle Jb
.ation.^ It is unthinkable that either in Europe
erica anti-Semitism could ever bring about legal
ilities for Jews. Any such legislation would be a
break with the poHtical tradition of the nine-
, th century, and no State could well take such a step,
|lmust also remember that all anti- Jewish laws are
cted against the Jews as a rehgious community ;
ntM-Semitism is not directed against the Jewish religion
-i^ is perfectly indifierent to it. It is hostile to the
as a race, and as promoters of certain kinds of
^mdistry and politics. Here legislation is powerless.
SciAntifically the Jewish race may be a perfectly weU-
defilned thing, legally the term is useless, not ohiy be-
catpe Jews share their outward physical marks of race
[h other peoples (for instance with Armenians and
ians), but also because a certain percentage of ad-
tents of the Jewish religion are not Jews by race, and
vice versa, many members of the Jewish race have
become Christians through conversion. In Europe and
the United States it is easy to deal with negroes, Indians
or Chinese — any child can tell the difference between
these races and whites. But special treatment for Jews
founded on such a basis would present insurmountable
difficulties in practice. Jews, as a race, are beyond the
reach of legislation, and still less can they be assailed as
followers of certain branches of trade, etc., since there is
to-day no one such branch exclusively in Jewish hands.
The danger of anti- Jewish legislation which might
counteract the assimilative movement, is, therefore, still
1 It may be said that anti-Semitism, through lowering the status
of the Jews, has prevented mixed marriages between Jews and non-
Jews of equal social standing. But it has proved no hindrance to
mixed marriages between Jews and those below them in social
standing, and such marriages are of frequent occurrence.
204
iH£ JEWS OF TO-DAY
fax distant. Social anti-Semitism alone is not
enough to stem assimilation. The " New Ghe
to which it gives rise is totally different to the
Ghettos in which Judaism was sheltered from assii
tion. In the old Ghettos the Jews were singled
commercially in their callings of money-lending
peddling, and culturally by their specifically Je^
education. Even if they had wanted, they could :
have mixed socially with Christians, their points of y
being entirely different. To-day, on the other ha
Jews are merchants, bankers, manufacturers, law
and doctors equally with Christians, receive the Sc
school education, read the same papers, and visit i
same theatres, lectures and so on. The social isolat
of the Jews is not, as in former times, a necessary res
of their commercial and cultural isolation ; it is o
to commercial and national envy of Jewish competiti6]|
and win fall away when the cause for it is removed.
The Jews of England and America will not undercut
wages for ever. They have to begin with low wages to
introduce new industries into America, and to provide
some means of subsistence for the hundreds of thousands
of Jewish immigrants, but the demand for higher wages
grows with the growth of the industries. And the
industrial reserve — ^to adopt Marx’s phrase — grows less
in spite of the continual stream of immigrants, because
Jews are always bringing in new branches of trade, while
the children of the immigrants do not remain in the
particularly Jewish industries, but seek other branches
of work and demand at least as high a wage as the
American workmen.
Just as the Jew will not remain the t 3 q)e of the
sweater in Germany, so in other countries he will outlive
his reputation as spoliator and destroyer of the middle
-^TI-SEMITISM AN INEFFECTIVE CHECK 205
Masses. Jews have indeed played a great part in
the development of industry, banks, wholesale trade
[especially in the introduction of the emporium — so
injurious to retail trade), but it is quite wrong to impute
this development to Jewish activity alone. Not the
Jews, but the whole body of enterprising capitalists
jf whom Jews are but a fraction, are responsible for
this development. If we eliminated all the Jews, we
should see that the small shopkeepers and artisans who
^complain so bitterly to-day of overpowering Jewish
competition, and who constitute the kernel of the anti-
Semitic party, would be no better off. The Jew goes,
the capitalist remains. This much is certain : whole
sections of the middle classes are now occupied in new
commercial activities, and the time is not far distant
when the economic revolution, caused by the victorious
progress of wholesale trade, win settle down to condi-
tions of greater equality founded on the principles, of
wholesale trade. The Jew will then, still less than
to-day, be the typical representative of a particular
form of trade. And the programme of the anti-Semitic
party, which is directed far more against the capitalist
than against the Jew, will then have no meaniog. To
s^ up : the economic condition which gives rise to so
inuch antipathy against the Jews is a passing pheno-
menon which disappear altogether within a measur-
able period of time.
The Same will happen with the Jewish parvewu and
snob. A Jew who has suddenly acquired great wealth
may be as ignorant as possible, but he is careful to give
his children the very best of educations, and thus the
objectionable quahties in the father are wiped out in
jhe next generation. Wherever numbers of nomeaux
riches Jews live, especially in large towns, the striking
206
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
difference between father and sons is evident ; the
children of the commonest parents have perfect
manners, and are usually of upright character and good
education.
When the economic and social causes of anti-Semitism
disappear, there yet remains the national opposition.
But this also will not be of long duration. The Jews
are in sudi small minorities in European countries (in
Roumania 4.5 per cent., in Hungary 4.4 per cent., in
Galicia ii.i per cent.) that the fear of their assuming
much prominence is unfounded. The Roumanians,
Magyars, Ruthenes and Poles, besides, are themselves
developmg so fast that they need have less cause to be
afraid of ^e Jews m the future.
Hitherto we have spoken of anti-Semitism as an in-
sufficient check to assimilation ; but on the other hand
we must realise that in many cases it actually accele-
rates Jewish apostacy. So long as it continues to be
the case, as it is to day more especially in Germany
and Austria, that conversion is the only road to socicd
position, so long will there be Jews who will avail them-
selves of baptism and formally renormce the Judaism
to which they were hitherto, outwardly at least,
attached. Anti-Semitism has two opposite effects on
Jews who are inwardly estranged from Judaism : those
whose only idea is to get on, it encourages to renounce
Judaism; while those who, perhaps, without anti-
Semitism would have become converts, remain Jews out
of a feding of shame at taking such a step just at a time
when the Jews are being attacked on all sides. As at
the present day the desire for honours and wealth is
more common than idealism and devotion to one’s
faith, it will be seen that the destructive element in
ANTI-SEMITISM AN INEFFECTIVE CHECK 207
anti-Semitism is more effective than the conservative
element ; furthermore, the children rarely follow in
the footsteps of the father, and thus the inevitable
result is anyhow only retarded. The gain which anti-
Semitism brings to Judaism is ephemeral — the loss is
lasting.
PART II. JEWISH NATIONALISM.
SECTION IV,
THE FOUNDATIONS OF JEWISH NATIONALISM.
0
CHAPTER XIII.
RACE VALUE OF THE JEWS.
A. The justification of the continuei existence of the
Jews as a separate nation.
We have shown how the Jews are in the throes
of assimilation — ^in some countries to the extent of
complete denationalisation and imminent deuiger of
absorption. Even in Eastern Europe, where the
denationalisation movement is stiU in its infancy, the
prospects for the future are not promising. The Jews
of Eastern Europe are tmquestionably on a higher
cultural and social plane than were the Jews of Prussia
at the end of the eighteenth century ; unless we are
greatly mistaken, in fifty years’ time they will have
reached the same standard of development as the West
European Jews achieved during the nineteenth century,
and after that their fate will be analogous to that of
Western Jewry.
The four sections of Jewry, to which we have so often
referred, represent the same differences of outlook in
regard to the continued existence of Jews, as they do to
the Jewish religion. The most advanced section (the
fourth) finds in the complete absorption of the Jews a
most desirable solution. T?he third section is indifferent
or has no decided opinions on the subject ; in any case
it would be unwilling to deprive itself of the social and
212
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
cultural life of its native land, even if by so doing it
might avert the threatening danger to Judaism. The
second section is anxious for the preservation of the
Jews as upholders of the Jewish religion, and in the
furtherance of this ideal is willing to make a certain
sacrifice of social intercourse. The first section has no
other aim in life than the preservation of Judaism and
Jewish life, for which it is willing to make any and every
sacrifice. ‘
Have the Jews a right to a separate existence ? The
very question is an insult to the Jewish people, since
no other people is required to defend by argument its
right to survive. Not only the German and the
Frenchman, but the Servian, the Bulgarian, the Rou-
manian — ^less numerous and infinitely less gifted than
the Jews, as they are — ^would never for a moment think
of entering on sudi an argumeint. To them their right
to a separate national existence is as unquestionable
and as unanswerable as the right of the individual to
Eve.
The Jews might justly plaim that a history extending
over 3,000 years is sufficient justification of their con-
tinued existence. What European nation can show
an3rthing comparable with that which the Jewish nation
has given to humanity? What nation can point to
such eagerness in well-doing, such unity between its
members, such appreciation of study and learning, such
fidelity and devotion to its faith and customs; as can
the Jewish nation ? Is this fideEty, for which our fore-
fathers suffered martyrdom and centuries of persecu-
tion, to be despised by their successors, and replaced
by conversion to Christianity ? No Jew will Eghtly
answer the question. Those very Jews who bow to
necessity and outwardly renounce Judaism do so with
213
RACE VALUE OF THE JEWS
a certain inward shame, and preserve a feeling of pride
in their ancestry, and a respect for the high spiritual
qualities of their race.
But these, after all, are only sentimental arguments ;
if we wish to get a true answer to the question whether
assimilation is of use or of harm to the Jews, we must
first answer the following question ; " Can the Jews do
more for humanity by remaining a separate nationality
than by becoming absorbed in other nations ? ” A
people can be of use to humanity in two ways, firstly
through its race-value, i.e. through the spiritual and
mental -powers incorporated in it, and secondly through
its culture. Whoever defends the right of the Jews to
a separate existence must do so either in view of their
racial or of their cultural value.
B. The intellectual §ifts of the Jews.
Are the Jews a highly gifted race ? Is there such a
thing as a Jewish race ? It is not our intention to
discuss the Jewish race question at this stage, especially
since the subject has been brilliantly and exhaustively
treated in ZoUschan's recent book. The Race Question,
with special reference to the Theoretical Foundations of
the Jewish Race (Vienna, 1909).^ Of the three great
race divisions, the white, the yellow and the black, the
Jews belong to the white race, and of the two divisions
within the white race — ^the Xanthochroi (fair-haired)
and the Melanochroi (dark-haired) — ^they belong to the
dark-haired. The dark-haired division can be again
divided into three groups : i. The inhabitants of
literature of the Jewish race-question is very plentiful,
hut much of it is uncritical and unscientific. Among valuable
authorities may be mentioned, Andree, Luschau, Weissenberg,
Judt, Elkind, Auerhaoh, Fishberg, Sofer,
214
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
Northern Africa and Arabia (typical representatives,
the Arab Beduins). 2. The remaining West and South
Asiatic peoples (typical representatives, Armenians
and Persians). 3. The Southern Europeans (typical
representatives, the Greeks).
The Jews at their first entry into history were a cross
between the first group — ^to which the Ass37rians and
Babylonians belonged in ancient times, besides the
Arabians — and the second group (Aramaeans, Hittites).
The Jews took their culture and lainguage from the first
group, and as long as the test of race was language-
relationship, the Jews were reckoned as belonging to
the Semitic group. In reality the Jews are more
nearly related anthropologically to the second group,
to the peoples of Asia Minor and Persia, and it is from
these that they inherit their characteristic physical
features. It was the merit of von Luschau to be the
first to discover the physical resemblance between
the Jews and the races of Asia Minor, especially the
Armenians,^ and thus to strike a blow at the Semitic
theory which has since been repudiated by all serious
scholars.
The group of peoples to which the Jews are thus most
nearly akin are to this very day remarkable for their
intellectual energy, which makes them dangerous
opponents in all matters of trade and commerce. The
Armenians are known to be the most practised and
capable merchants of the Orient, and the Persians are
famous for their general commercial talent and high
mental and spiritual gifts. This commercial talent is
not a narrow one-sided gift of chaffering, it is the sign
^ TKe resemblance to the Armenians is quite remarkable. The
most experienced anthropologist might try in vain to distinguish
between Jews and Armenians in the mass.
RACE VALUE OF THE JEWS 215
of exceptional intellectual capacity. Josef Kohler ^
declares the Jews “ one of the most gifted races man-
kind has produced, less prolific in great geniuses, but
overflowing with men of great talent.” ^ The reason
that the gifts of the Jews are best manifested in com-
mercial matters is simply due to the fact that in every
nation there are more merchants than scholars, and
intellect in trade brings therefore much more pro-
minence than it does in science. There is no specific
commercial gift ; the same qualities which go to make
a successful business man — ^the power of swift compre-
hension, of logical thinking, of good judgment, of
organisation, of quick action — axe the same which in
different circumstances go to make the distinguished
scholar, politician, engineer and officer. The same
Jews who were able to create new forms of exchange,
such as the emporium, and to apply the technical
discoveries of modem times to economic life, would
have achieved through their acuteness, their powers of
organisation and their untiring energy, equd success
in other walks of life. Further, the Jews have long ago
ceased to be merely business men. In Western Europe
during the last hundred years they have been numbered
amongst the best jurists, politicians, parliamentarians,
1 German Monthly Magazine^ December iith, 1910,
®Tlie assertion that the Jews produce many men of talent, but
few, if any, geniuses is a charge constantly brought up in literary
references to Jews. It seems to us that something more than re-
petition is required to prove this thesis. There is no fixed line of
demarcation between talent and genius. But if we accept the
difference, and admit that of the great artists, scientists and poli-
ticians of the nineteenth century, the greatest geniuses — ^let us say
Napoleon, Beethoven, Goethe, Darwin — ^were not Jews, does this
show that the Jews, who constitute 2 per cent, of the Christians
in Europe, have less genius than the Christians ?
2i6 the jews of to-day
doctors, engineers, actors and chess-playersA The
greatest English statesman of the nineteenth century
was the Jew Disraeli. Italy owes not a little of its
present commercial prosperity to the Jewish ex-Prime
Minister Luzzatti ; the first president of the German
Reichstag and Reichsgericht was the Jew Simson ; at
the cradle of the most important scientific discoveries
of the New Age, the telephone, electricity, the flying
machine, stand the Jews Edison, Heinrich Hertz, and
Lilienthal ; the greatest social movement of the nine-
teenth century was the product of the Jews Lassalle
and Marx.
In earlier literature relating to the Jewish race, we
generally find an exaggerated estimate of the purity
and unity of the Jewish race. Latterly a reaction has
set in, and many authors deny altogether any unity of
race in the Jews. In reality, the Jews, in the course
of their 3,000 years’ history, have assimilated to a small
extent certain foreign ethnical elements, though in the
mass, as contrasted with the Central European nations,
they represent a well-characterised race. In Southern
Europe it is more difficult to distinguish them from non-
Jews, while in Asia Minor and Syria it is practically
impossible. But this very likeness to the Asiatic
peoples, from whom they have been separated for 2,000
years, shows that the Jews have remained unchanged,
and that in the Jews of to-day we may say we have the
same people who fought victoriously under King David,
who repented their misdeeds tmder Ezra and Nehemi^,
died fighting for freedom under Bar-Kochba, were the
great carriers of trade between Europe and the Orient
^ The supremacy of the Jews as chess-players refutes the assertion
so often heard that the Jews have only a pr^tctical hent, chess being
in the sphere of pure abstraction.
217
RACE VALUE OF THE JEWS
in the early Middle Ages, and finally were excluded
from culture in the isolation and misery of the Ghettos
from the end of the Middle Ages onward for 500 years.
Thus the Jews have not only preserved their great
natural racial gifts, but through a long process of selec-
tion these gifts have become strengthened. The terrible
conditions imder which the Jews lived during the last
500 years necessitated a bitter struggle for life in which
only the cleverest and strongest survived, while the
thirst for knowledge, and more especially the keen
exercise of the mind engendered by the study of the
Talmud, served also to eliminate all but the most gifted.
The rich Jews of the Ghetto vied with one another for
the most learned Talmudic scholars as husbands for
their daughters, and thus insured the mental progress
of the race.^ The result is that in the Jew of to-day,
we have what is in some respects a particularly valuable
human type. Other nations may have other points of
superiority, but in respect of intellectual gifts the Jews
can scarcely be surpassed by any nation. For this fact
alone the Jews may well claim their right to a separate
existence and resist any attempt to absorb them.
That type of Cosmopolitanism, which aims at the
greatest possible similarity between nations, at a
smoothing away of all their differences of character, is
to-day generally discredited. Just as it would be
absurd to destroy specific kinds of firuit in order to
produce one general kind, so it is equally absurd
to wish to wipe out national di-fferences. Mankind
to-day aims not at uniformity, but 'at making use
1 It is perhaps owing to this severe process of selection that the
Ashkenazim are to-day superior in activity, intelligence and scientific
capacity to the Sephardim and Arabian J ews, in spite of their common
ancestry.
2i8 the jews of to-day
of the individuality of every nation for the common
good.
It might be weU to consider here the vexed question
whether or not a race can change its character. In the
first place, there is no doubt that the will to breed
which produces varieties in plant and animal life,
often transforming them altogether, produces like effects
in the races of men. We have made frequent mention
of the preference of Jews for Talmudic scholars as
husbands with a view to rearing a higher race ; in the
same way it is likely that the prevalence of fair hair
among the German Jews, for example, is due to pre-
ference for fair hair in the choice of a husband or wife
(a result of the effort after assimilation) . In these cases
changes in race-character arise from the cultivation of
certain varieties within the race itself. It is a different
question whether a race can be transformed by the in-
fluence of external conditions. The answer depends
upon the point of view. The politician who reckons
with short spaces of time will certainly answer in the
negative, while the biologist, who is interested not so
much in actual changes of type as in the possibility of
change, will probably reply in the affirmative. Absurd
as it would be to expect a European standard of culture
from the negroes in one or two generations of altered
social and economic conditions, it would be equally
presumptuous to declare against their being able to
produce a high state of culture hundreds or thousands
of years hence. The way in which the spiritual germ
gradually brings about a change in the race is still not
quite dear (the best known explanation is Semon’s
Mneme-Theoiy), but that such transformations can and
do take place Over long periods of time is more than
likely. It is highly probable too that an ancient
RACE VALUE OF THE JEWS 219
culture affects and moulds the character of a race.
Thus, for instance, the markedly rational trend of
thought and action which is most pronounced in the
oldest nation of civilisation — ^the Chinese — but is notice-
able also in the descendants of the ancient Mediter-
ranean peoples, the Armenians, Jews, Greeks and
Persians, may be explained by this consideration. The
rationahsm of the Jew thus becomes a result of his
ancient culture, and the peoples of Northern Europe
will at some future time arrive at the stage at which the
Jew stands to-day.
C. The artistic froclivities of the Jews,
The cultural value of a nation is determined not only
by its mtellectual, but by its artistic and ethichl
qualities. Should the Jews, iu comparison with other
nations, fall short in these provinces, their intellectual
gifts might indeed be disparaged and their value to
humanity considered, at best, a negative one. It is,
indeed, often asserted that the Jews are not deeply
artistic, that they have produced no artistic genius.
But when we remember that a few himdred thousand
Jews in Germany alone in the nineteenth century pro-
duced musicians like Mendelssohn, Meyerbeer, Offen-
bach, Goldmark, Joseph Joachim; poets like Heine;
painters like Max Liebermann, we see the falsity of sudi
an assertion. We must always remember that German
Jews are only i per cent, of the Christians in number,
so that, in proportion, German Christians should have
produced 100 to every one of these Jewish artists.
We doubt if they could show this result. It is easy
enough, especially in anti-Semitic countries, to dispars^e
Jewish artists and their work. But whoever takes an
rmprejudiced view, and remembers besides, the Jewish
220
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
non-German artists, (Josef Israels, Antokolski, Pissaro,
Rubinstein) must come to the conclusion that the Jews
of Western Europe have, in proportion to their numbers,
produced a great number of gifted artists. They are
likewise well represented in poetry and sculpture, and
it is only in architecture that so far they do not seem to
have excelled. The artistic achievements of the Jews
are the more remarkable, as Zollschan has rightly
pointed out in his book, considering that Ihe callings
open to Jews hitherto have not been such as to further
any artistic genius ; they were concentrated in trade
and commerce, and had a hard struggle for existence.
The qualities needed for success were sharpness and
dexterity, clearness of mind, and a quick grasp of things,
in addition to a habitual and shallow superficiality ;
most of which qualities do not lead -to profundity of
realisation of the inner meaning of things. It is the
best proof of the spiritual gifts of the Jews that in spite
of these unfavourable outward conditions they stiU
produce men of leading in Art and Literature.
D. The Jews mi Ethics.
It has been said that Jews are inferior in ethical
qualities, in morals and character. Is this true ? We
can scarcely tell from the individual case ; it is only
by taldng the people in the mass that we can reach any
objective judgment. Such a survey can be made by
stud3dng criminal statistics, ^he criminality of the
Jews has been the subject of much investigation^ of
^Compare niy treatise, Cnminality of Christians and Jews in
Germany^ 1899-1902 ; also Blau, The Crimincdity of Jews in Germany
dupng the years 1903-1906 ; V. Xiszt, The Problem of Jewish Crimi-
nakty ; Wassermettin, Profession, Religion omd Crime, Munich, 1907 ;
Thou, Criminality of the Christians and Jews of Austria.
RACE VALUE OF THE JEWS
221
late years, and the general conclusion is this, that
the criminality of the Jews is different from, but in
no way greater than that of Christians. Speaking
generally we may say that Christians have a pre-
ponderance in crimes of violence and brutality, Jews
in crimes of fraudulence and decei^ The table on
pp. 222 and 223 shows the comparative criminality of
' Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Netherlands. The
figures for Germany are those of the years 1903-1906,
for Austria of 1898-1902, for Hungary of 1904, for the
E ands of 1902.
lalysis of the figures shows that the differences
naHty between Jews and non-Jews is due solely
to difference in social conditions, to the greater pros-
perity and higher education of the Jews, their re-
stricted participation in agriculture, their concentration
in trade and industry, and in the large towns ; and
that there is here no question of racial differences :
unless, indeed, we attribute the prevalence of alco-
holism among Christians (which is responsible for so
many crimes of violence) and of greater cunning among
the Jews (which facilitates fraud) to dispositions of race.
The more one studies the question, and investigates the
causes of crime, the more dear does it become that those
who would account for the difierences between Jewish
and Christian criminality by inborn qualities of race
are deceiving themselves. If one goes to the root of
things, one :tods that sodal conditions are everywhere
responsible for differences in criminality This is quite
apart from the question raised by Lombroso and his
school as to whether some men are bom criminals or
not. The “ delinquente naio ” of Lombroso is not a man
who resorts to breaches of the peace, stealing, forgery,
or inflicting bodily harm, i.e. to the crimes which daim
COMPARATIVE CRIMINALITY OF JEWS AND CHRISTIANS.
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
224
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
the greatest number of criminals in the present day ;
he is rather a man who is devoid of any feeling of re-
straint, who gives full rein to his passions, and does
not shrink either from sexual immorality, robbery or
murder. Such men may exist, but they are as rare
among criminals as are the insane among the sane.
Their numbers are so small that they do not count in a
comparison of criminality. It would be too absurd to
attribute those delinquencies in which Jews are more
strongly represented than Christians (these axe in Ger-
many, usury, bankruptcy, failures in business, falsi-
fication of documents, evasion of military service, fraud
and hbel) to inborn criminal disposition. They are the
results of recent changes in social life, ^d it would be
as umreasonable to impute a propensity to usury and
bankruptcy to the Jewish babe, as it would be to impute
to the Christian child a natural inclination to damage
property and commit breaches of the peace.
If we examine the offences (usury, misappropriation,
bankruptcy, infringement of the law of Sunday closing,
offences against the law of copyright) for which Jews
were convicted seven times as often as Christians,
we find that the offences are directly traceable to
the business or profession of the offender. When
we compare, as we have tried to do in the accom-
panying table, the proportion of Jews in certain
professions with their corresponding proportion of
offenders, we find that the greater criminality of
Jews in these callings is explained by their greater
participation therein.
The powerful influence of economic conditions is
most strikingly seen in Amsterdam, where the Jews,
unlik e the Jews of other countries, are guilty of less
fraud and more infliction of bodily injury '^an the
RACE VALUE OF THE JEWS
225
Proportion of Jews
Offence.
Profession of Offender.
In
Profession.
Of
Offenders.
Usury
Misappropriation - -
Independent- - - "33.12
Financiers, bankers, 33.12
etc. - - - .
22.73
17.17
Bankruptcy- - - -
Fraudulent bankruptcy
General bankruptcy -
Infringement of the law
of Sunday closing, etc.
Offences against intel-
lectual property - -
Independent trades-
men and business
men - - - -
Authors, journalists,
private scholars -
9.50
13*10
3 - 57
4 - 71
II-33
7.48
9-44
Christians. Why is this ? Because the great majority
of the Jews of Amsterdam are not occupied in trade but
in the handicraft of diamond-cutting. They thus have
few possibilities and temptations to defraud, such as
trade so frequently offers. On the other band, the
workmen are less educated and probably more addicted
to liquor than Jews in other lands, and therefore lose
the restraint which hinders most Jews from committing
acts of violence.
So much is clear ; criminal statistics cannot prove
the relation between crime and race, since the majority
of offences have only become criminal in recent legal
systems. As to the capital crimes (murder, robbery,
incendiarism, offences against morality) which have
been punishable in all ages, if one would impute inborn
criminality to their perpetrators, the Jews would be
found to have very few such bom criminals, since they
'have always been far more immune from these parti-
cular crimes than the Christians. Similarly, they have
in proportion to their numbers fewer culprits altogether
p
226
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
t h qn have the Christians. Thus any inborn, i.e. racial
moral inffiority is completely disproved by criminal
statistics.
In social and public hfe the Jews are often charged
with being presumptuous and wanting in tact. This is
very often the case in fact, but the reason is not to be
found in their racial qualities but in the unparalleled
rapidity of their social and economic advance, which
naturally gives rise to this parvenu spirit. It is not so
easy to get accustomed to new standards of hfe. But
this is only 4 transition stage. The second and third
generations fed at home in their new surroundings, and,
know how to conduct themselves with perfect ease and
tact. We must remember too that much that gives
offence in the behaviour of the Jews does so only because
it is measured by the standard of the Christian en-
vironment. Thus, in England and North Germany the
Jews give ofience by their temperamental manner of
speaking and gesticdating, because it is the habit in
these countries to be reserved; whereas the English
demeanour is by no means to the taste of some other
nations, such as those of Soyth Europe. It is the fate
of the Jews that they are the only Mediterranean people
who live among Northern nations, and that being in a
small minority they cannot create a standard for them-
sdves, but must accept and be judged by that of the*
majority.
E. The value of the Jewish race.
We think we have proved sufficiently what we set out
to prove, namdy, that the Jews cis a race are inferior
neither in artistic achievement nor in moral fibre. We*
can thus accept the high intellectuality of the Jews
without reserve, and are justified in desiring to preserve
227
RACE VALUE OF THE JEWS
this high human type, the equal of any race of mankind,
as a separate entity, unmixed, because this is the only
possible way to preserve and develop the race-character.
Any highly cultivated race deteriorates rapidly when
its members mate with a less cultivated race, and the
Jew naturally finds his equal and match most easily
within the Jewish people. We cannot absolutely
assert that the mixture of Jews with other races in-
variably produces a degenerate posterity. The mixing
of diametrically opposed races does indeed almost alwaj'S
produce bad results, the difference of blood between
father and mother giving rise to an unbalanced off-
spring, devoid of character aij,d energy. The racial
difference between Jews and Europeans is not great
enough to warrant an unfavourable prognostic as to the
fruits of a mixed marriage. The few investigations
which have been made into the physical and mental
qualities of the children of mixed marriages have not
led to any definite conclusion in this matter, though
the assertion that mixed marriages between Jews and
Christians are less prolific than others seems likely to
be confirmed by statistics. This might be a sign that
mixed marriages are not conducive to the begetting of
offspring, though it would not necessarily follow that
the children themselves would be physically and
mentally weaker.
It is certain, however, that by intermarriage the race-
character is lost, and that descendants of a mixed
marriage are not likely to have any remarkable gifts.
A very gifted Jewish couple may confidently look for-
ward to finding their talents reproduced and intensified
in their children. But the same result caimot be antici-
pated from a mixed marriage where racial discre-
pancies exist between the father and mother. The child
228
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
naturally inherits the qualities both of the father and
mother, but these qualities, instead of being intensified,
will be weaker in the child. As a general rule, the child
is not distinctively of either race, and its gifts will not
be above the average.
Intermarriage being clearly detrimental to the pre-
servation of the high qualities of the race, it follows that
it is necessary to try and prevent it and to preserve
Jewish separatism. The oifiy possible way is to put a
stop not to intermarriage alone, but to the whole process
of assimilation, which begins in denationalisation and
ends in intermarriage. To oppose intermarriage alone
would be 'acting like the quack who tries to cure the
excrescences without getting to the root of the disease.
Once the process of assimilation has commenced and
has progressed as far as denationalisation, i.e. extinction
of all Jewish individuality, the complete assimilation
and absorption of the Jews becomes inevitable. The
" de-Judaised ” Jew finds no support in Judaism, he
hovers in the air, as it were, and eventually takes refuge
in Christianity, which, as the ruling religion, naturally
exerts the greatest attraction. Jewish individuality
and culture, and finally the custodian of that culture,
the Jew himself, aU become destroyed by assimilation,
and the Jewish race disappears hke a drop in the ocean
of Christian blood. The preservation of the Jew as a
high type of human cuiiare depends upon the cessation
of the process of denationalisation, and means in
practice a constant struggle against assimilation.
CHAPTER XIV.
CULTURAL VALUE OF THE JEWS.
A. Race and culture.
We have already seen that a nation’s racial and
cultural value are its justification for a separate exist-
ence. We have further seen that the condition as to
race value is fulfilled by the Jews. Can they also show
a similar cultural value ? It would be reasonable to
suppose that high culture would be a natural adjunct
of a high race, since race is the soil from which culture
springs. High racial endowment is indeed a necessary
condition for culture, but it is not the only condition ;
it must go hand in hand with the external advantages
of economic and political prosperity. It is differences
in these external circumstances which explain the
different grades of culture attained by the same race at
different periods and in different coimtries. The same
Arabs who developed such a high type of civilisation out-
side Arabia in the ninth and tenth centuries were, some
few centuries before, as they are to-day in the deserts
of Arabia, nomad tribes of low standing. The native
American races of Mexico and Peru showed an advanced
state of civilisation in agricultural matters at the time
of the discovery of America, while in other districts
they were completely uncivilised, and relied on the
chase as their chief means of subsistence. Nations
such as the Persians and Greeks, under the stress of
230
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
political oppression and economic distress, fell from the
cultural eminence they had previously attained. These
few examples vidll suffice to show the influence of
external conditions on culture.
What is culture, and how can its value be estimated ?
Culture is not merely science and art, a high degree
of technical development, a refined mode of life, or
lofty conceptions of morality, but the sum total of all
those spiritual possessions which fit men for life in
association with their compatriots and endow them
with poise and intellectual perspective. Greek culture,
although as regards science and technical development
far below that of modem Europe, was yet its equal in
another sense, because it gave to the Greeks a social
perception, a national spirit, and a uniform compre-
hension of history.
The union of rich racial endowment with favourable
external conditions produces the highest culture, but
like an organic structure, it requires a certain time for
growth and development. If it is to develop to the full
many generations must contribute to it the results of
their experiences. The gradual evolution of ethical
and social ideas within a nation is a process which
requires hundreds of years for its accomplishment.
It will be understood from this that a high culture
has an independent value of its own, even with a highly
(mdowed race — ^just as the value of an individual does
not depend solely on his natural gifts (which give him
the means of acquiring knowledge), but on his actual
acquirement and assimilation of that knowledge. To
take another example : acquired culture is to the race
what money is to the merchant— he has acquired it
through the exercise of his business capacity, and
thereafter it becomes his capital.
CULTURAL VALUE OF THE JEWS 231
'B. The value of modern Jewish culture.
Jewish culture to-day is confined to the East Euro-
pean Jews. The Jews of Western Europe have given
up their Jewish culture and have become English-
men, Germans, Frenchmen and so forth. They accom-
plish great things in the various intellectual and artistic
spheres of these coimtries, and do much to further their
development, but they are lost to Jewish culture. This
is the greater pity, since they would probably achieve
still greater things in the realms of Jewry, where all
their racial gifts would be called into play without let
or hindrance ; whereas in the countries of tiieir adoption
they are bound to adapt themselves to the life and
thought of the racial majority, which is in many cases
quite foreign to them.
The present Jewish culture, i.e. the culture of the
East European Jews, is the same as that possessed by
the Jews of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries,
which they took .with them to the isolation of the
Ghettos. At that time it was similar in character to
that of the other European nations, and scholasticism
was its dominating spirit. But whereas Christian
civilisation was enormously enriched during the follow-
ing centuries of the Renaissance by geographical dis-
coveries and by the development of natural sciences,
and progressed by leaps and bounds, the Jews in their
Ghettos lived through five hundred years without any
impulse from outside, and had to subsist on what they
had when they entered the Ghettos. This spiritud
inbreeding impoverished their civilisation, especially
in comparison with the gigantic contemporary progress
of the Christians. The study of the Talmud, which
was and still is with the " fromm ” (pious) Jew of East
232
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
Exirope the beginning and end of knowledge, does
indeed sharpen the intellect, but the education it gives
is not to be compared with modem European education.
The plastic arts are absent. Powers of self-cultivation,
and the desire for the refinements of life, are not even
awakened. The love of nature, which Christianity has
been slowly acquiring ever since the Renaissance, is
almost unknown. The literature of the European
nations is ignored, and science is at a very primitive
stage. In short, the Jews’ culture lacks ^ that the
European nations — each stritdng to outdo the other, and
favoured by happy discoveries and inventions — have
added to their culture during the last five hundred years.
Hence an inevitable discrepancy between conception
and realisation. In wealth of ideas the Jewish can
bear comparison with any European civilisation. Its
conception of life is grand in its comprehensiveness ;
and the outlook of the East European Jew, who sees
the controUing hand of a righteous God in all things,
is much finer in its harfiiony and its strong ethical sense
than the world-philosophy of many an " enlightened "
Jew, who looks down compassionately on East Emropean
Judaism. The perfect Talmud scholar, notwithstand-
ing his ignorance of modern science and learning, can
hold his own with the most cultured as a type of the
highly educated man.
In the sphere of ethics Jewish civilisation can also
bear comparison with that of any European people.
The well-known moderation of the East European Jews,
their aversion to violence and lust, their sympathy for
all hu man sorrow, their earnestness, and eagerness to
work, their respect for the law, the dose tie between
parents and children, the absence of dass distinctions,
are its prindpal features, and are of the greatest value
CULTURAL VALUE OF THE JEWS 233
n communal life. Their religious fervour, which is the
mtstanding characteristic of Eastern Jewish cultiure,
>hows their capacity for ignoring worldly interests ; and
inder other circumstances this idealism takes the form
)f enthusiasm for other great causes, as is clearly shown
Dy the participation of the Jewish youth in the move-
nent for Russian freedom.
But in comprehensiveness, i.e. in content of secular
rnowledge, Jewish culture compared with that of
Europe, is undeniably backward. It shares the fate of
ill isolated cultures : that of China, for example, which
;hough in itself among the most highly developed, by
cutting itself off from any other contemporary learning
md science, has been left behind by that of Europe.
The era of isolated centres of light, such as existed in
Dlden times, is over ; such centres cannot compete with
European civilisation, which consists of the combined
nvilisations of all the European peoples working to-
gether, and the interplay of one with the other. One
single people cannot possibly attain as comprehensive
in excellence in all provinces of thought and action as
:an all the nations of Europe combined. If, for instance,
Dne were to isolate one of the European nations, France
Dr Germany, cutting them off from connection with
Dther national cultures, we should see a repetition of
the same process as has happened to the Jews ; they
would fall behind the other nations in knowledge and
jxperiences. They might still reach, a high standard,
but it would be as “ empirically backward ” as that of
Jewish culture to-day.
The backwardness of Jewish culture is easily over-
Dome. The rapidity with which the Jews of Western
and Central Europe acquired the European outlook and
produced notable men like Spinoza, Disraeli, Marx,
234
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Heine, Israels, Heinrich Hertz,
in all spheres of learning and art, is proof that they do
not remain backward for long. The West European
Jews indeed have completely identified themselves with
European standards, but afstShe expense of their own.
That there is no need for this we see from the Japanese,
whose culture, though of a high type, was until fifty
years ago in an isolated and backward condition : yet
they were able to adapt the most advanced European
thought to their own needs, and while remaining
thoroughly Japanese, and respecting their ancient
culture, they are to-day able to compete with the
European nations in the highest spheres of learning,
art and science.
Like the Japanese, the Jews must adapt modem
culture to their own, so that they may combat that of
Europe on its own ground as equal antagonists. But
they must go carefully to work, lest in the effort to
merge the two together, they destroy the worth of the
old. The result of the combination should be a Jewish
civilisation with a real value of its own, whereas up till
now the wholesale participation of Jews in modem
thought has indeed been a cure for the backwardness of
their culture, but one, in the process of which, that
culture has tended to disappear altogether.
As long as the new Jewish culture takes that of the
old Ghetto for its foundation and becomes its organic
continuation it wiU have a firm basis. But if, as has
been occasionally attempted, a Jewish culture is built
up without this foundation, the corner-stones of the
new edifice being taken from the whole variety of
possible somrces, the result will be nothing but worthless
talk. A civilisation cannot be put together like a
mosaic ; it can only grow out of a living national life.
CULTURAL VALUE OF THE JEWS 235
i.e. in this case, out of the culture of the East European
Jews. This means, at the same time, that the pioneers
of the new culture can only be those who have acquired
the old, i.e. the East European Jews. The West Euro-
pean Jews, with individual exceptions, are already too
denationalised and too saturated with modernity to do
anything of the sort. The new Jewish culture in its
early stages would doubtless fall short of their worldly
standards, and would therefore faU to attract them.
C. The new Jewish culture a combination of Jewish
tradition with modern education.
To prove whether or not it is possible for the East
European Jews to be receptive of modem secular edu-
cation and still maintain the positive worth of their
present Jewish standards, we must first show why the
adoption of modem education has hitherto worked such
havoc with Jewish tradition. Three reasons present
themselves :
1. Modem secular education is at bottom anti-
religious, and is thus in indirect opposition to the
culture of the East European Jews, the kernel of which
is religion and belief in God. There is no bridge be-
tween the firm belief of the Russian Jew in an Almighty
God, in His active intervention in the history of the
world, in the power of prayer, and the modem con-
ception of life founded on natural science and evolu-
tionary theories.
2. Modem education is imparted to the East Euro-
pean Jew not in his own (Yiddish) but in a foreign
language. At every step, therefore, the fact that his
education is the product of a foreign people is brought
home to him. His soul is divided between Jewish
tradition, imparted to him either in Yiddish or Hebrew,
236 THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
and secular knowledge, winch comes to him in either the
German, Russian or Polish language in the guise of
German, Russian or Polish culture. Of the two, secular
education, with its obvious superiorities of learning and
science, and the advantages it offers in econoinic life,
nearly always proves the stronger influence. The Jew
applies hims elf to it, and contempt for the Jewish
language and tradition is the natural consequence.
3. The East European Jew receives this secular
education in Christian schools in which naturally no
attention is paid to the traditions of the Jewish home,
the Jewish pupil being plunged into an absolutely
foreign milieu. The child is, as it were, uprooted from
Jewish tradition, and leaves the school totally estranged
from Judaism.
Of these causes, the first — the schism between Jewish
religion and the teachings of natural science — cannot
be evaded. The body of the Jewish beliefs will no
doubt suffer many blows from the spread of scientific
knowledge. But the Jews will here fare no differently
from all the nations who have been touched by the
breath of science. In France, England, Italy, Germany,
no less than in the United States and Japan, religion
has had to resign its sovereign power, and be content
with what science has left it. The Jewish religion will
fare no worse than the Christian — ^it will fare better,
because it has fewer dogmas, and because its funda-
mental dogma, belief in one God, is not irreconcilable
with the Monism of natural science. Perhaps this may
one day develop into a synthesis which will xmite all the
world. In any event, by using a little discretion it is
quite possible for Jewish children to retain, side by side
with modem education, a feeling of respect for their
religion, as the greatest and most pregnant expression
CULTURAL VALUE OF THE JEWS 237
of the Jewish genius. It is quite reasonable that they
should at the same time preserve many of the cere-
monials as symbols of their faith.
This brings us to the second cause of the destruction
of Jewish culture, namely, the disturbing influence of
foreign languages and non- Jewish schools. This difii-
culty might be removed by giving Jewish children a
modem education, not as now in a strange language
and in Christian schools, but in Jewish schools, in direct
' connection with Jewish tradition and in their own
language. This demand for their own schools and their
own language is an essential condition for a satisfactory
combination of Jewish tradition with modem culture.
A peculiar language and separate schools are only
possible where Jews live in the closest connection with
one another. For this the primary condition of every
constitutional nation must be fulfilled : a fixed territory
and a self-contained national existence. Previously
the Jews of East Europe had at least the semblance of
these conditions ; the boundaries of the Ghettos con-
fined them to one spot, and their special privileges as
money-lenders and — ^in Poland — also as artisans, made
them to a certain extent independent of the Christians ;
they relied as little on the Christians as did the latter on
the Jews. With the loss of these privileges things have
changed for the Jews ; they now take their share in the
open market, where, surrounded by Christian com-
petitors, they have to rely on and to cater for non-
Jewish customers. This smooths the way to assimila-
tion. The only possible preventive is for the Jews,
who to-day are mainly middlemen between the non-
Jewish producer and the ncm-Jewish consumer, and
thus dependent upon both, to create an economic life
of their own, and to apply themselves to all callings, and
238
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
more particularly to agriculture. Here the Jews would
not only be the sellers of wares, but would be both
producer and consumer. Without some such change
of occupation, and without local segregation, Jewish
schools where the Hebrew language prevails will not
be possible, because economic life necessitates a
different education. As long as the Jews are a small
minority in the midst of a great non-JeAvish majority,
and remain economically dependent on non-Jews, so
long will they be forced by circumstances to acquire
the language and customs of their environment ; and
even if Jewish schools should be able to maintain
themselves, any ideas they may have implanted will be
destroyed in later life. We have an example before us
in the yoimg men of East Europe who, educated in
Jewish schools, and good Jews enough when they
arrive in England or America, invariably fall a prey
to assimilation as soon as they leave the Jewish quarters
of the cities and earn their living outside. Having
shown that four conditions are essential for the further-
ance of Jewish culture, namely :
1. Jewish schools,
2. An self-contained economical life,
3. A common language,
4. Local segregation.
the question presents itself as to how and where these
conditions can be fulfilled. The problem of- the schools
is the easiest to solve. When the three other conditions
are fulfilled, the schools will come of themselves, because
they will be the only possible kind. Ever3rthing de-
pends, therefore, on the possibility of fulfilling the three
last conditions. We propose to discuss this possibility
in the three following chapters.
SECTION V.
THE AIMS OF JEWISH NATIONALISM.
CHAPTER XV.
CREATION OF A SELF-CONTAINED JEWISH
ECONOMIC LIFE BY A RETURN TO AGRICULTURE.
A. The importance of agricultural occupation for a
community of fews.
If the Jews are to live together in large numbers they
must be represented in every calling, and more parti-
cularly in agriculture. So long as the Jews remain in
the spheres of labour in which we find them to-day, and
the culture of the soil, the most important branch of
domestic economy, remains, in non- Jewish hands, so
long will Jews who live in the open country continue to
be at best shopkeepers and carpenters, and be forced to
throng to the towns where trade and industry offer them
a means of livelihood. An isolated J ewish town popula-
tion, the environment of which is exclusively non-Jewish,
would be the worst possible foundation for a Jewish
co-operative community. A town poptilation, which
relies on trade and commerce, constantiy fluctuates, is
ever ready to change its residence when another locality
offers better economic prospects ; moreover, as we have
already shown, it offers exceptional opportunities for
assimilation, living as it does on custom (and parti-
cularly on the custom of the non-Jewish country neigh-
bourhood), and therefore being forced to suit the wishes
of its customers. The farmer who lives on the produce
Q
242
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
of his field is the only thoroughly settled man, his
modest needs and his independence enabling him to
withstand assimilation and survive crises which work
havoc with those engaged in business. A true love of
home, a feeling of being part of the soil, only takes root
in a people which has by its own toil drawn its suste-
nance out of the earth. A settled Jewish community can
only exist where there are Jewish farmers. There only
the springs of nature, which were sealed up in the Jews
of the Ghetto, will begin to flow anew.
B. Small participation of Jews in agriculture.
It is a vexed question whether the Jews, who during
the existence of the Jewish kingdom were undoubtedly
an agricultural people, remained so during the first
centuries of the dispersion ; but it is certain that ever
since the Middle Ages they have ceased to be farmers.
In the whole of Western Europe, in England, France,
Italy and Holland, we might search in vain for Jewish
farmers. In Germany — ^by the census of 1907 — among
292,862 professing Jews, 3,746 were engaged in agri-
cultural occupations (horticulture, forestry, cattle
raising, fishing) ; thus, of Jews, x.3 per cent, engaged
in agriculture as against 35.5 per cent, of Christians.
And even these few Jews with very few exceptions live,
not on the produce of their agricultural labour, but as
landowners and lessors, or as participators in industrial
enterprises in connection with agriculture.
In Austria the statistics of 1900 give the relatively
high number of 139,810 Jews, i.e. 11.4 per cent, engaged
in agriculture and forestry, as against 54.4 per cent, of
the Christians. But these figures should not deceive
us into thinking that there is really a Jewish peasant
class in Austria. There is no such thing. In Galicia
A SELF-CONTAINED JEWISH LIFE 243
and Bukovina it is indeed not uncommon for a Jew to
possess a cow or occasionally a large stock of cattle ; but
in my long journeys in Galicia I never met a genuine
Jewish peasant. On the other hand, Jewish land-
lords, particularly large landowners, alre comparatively
numerous in Galicia. Of the entire “ landtaflig ”
ground of Galicia {i.e. property whjch was originally
manor land, and still enjoys certain legally assured
privileges), which in 1902 amounted to 7,204,076 acres
or 37.2 per cent, of the total area of Galicia, 744,998
acres = 10.34 cent., were in the hands of the Jews,
which gives about the same proportion as the Jewish
population is to the Galician (11.09 cent.). The
Jews who possess “landtaflig” estates, and are thus
•amopg the large landowners, manage the land in most
cases themselves. The small Jewish landowners, on
the contrary, seek only to let it out and devote them-
selves to trade. At the same time, many Jews are to
be found among Galician agricultural labourers.
The conditions in Hungary and Roumania are similar.
In the latter coimtry the Jews manage numerous large
estates as lessees (they are prevented by law from
becoming landowners). In Roumania in 1908 of the
3,332 lessees who owned estates of over 120 acres, 472 =
14.2 per cent., were Jews, and 5,765,338 acres = 18.87
per cent, of the entire leasehold land, was in their
hands. These Jews are not farmers, but agricultural
employers; they do not till the soil with their own
hands, but have it worked by others — sub-tenants,
hired labourers, etc.
C. ResuUs of Jewish agncuUurdl colonisation hitherto.
If we wish to find Jewish farmers in Europe we must
go to Russia. The existence of these farmers is due,
244
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
however, not to the voluntary return of the Jews to
the land, but to a colonising enterprise of the Russian
Government. In 1806 Alexander I. issued a decree by
which Jews with not less than ^^40 capital who were
willing to be farmers were promised their own piece of
ground. Applications flowed in, so that soon after the
issue of the decree nine colonies were founded in the
government province of Cherson. The colonies did not
prosper, however, and would probably have disappeared
altogether if Nicholas I. had not come to the rescue. In
1836 this Czar took up the project of his predecessor,
and, by promises of special privileges, induced many
new colonists to settle in Cherson, with the result that
the number of colonising families rose rapidly from 957
to over 2,000. The privileges they now enjoyed
ameliorated their condition, and in 1842 four more
colonies were founded in Cherson. In 1846 four new
colonies were established in the government of Ekater-
inoslav, and to-day we find colonies in almost every
governmental department of the Pale of Settlement.^
In 1898 and 1899 the Jewish Colonisation Association
instituted and published a report of these Jewish agri-
cultural colonies. We extract the following table, from
which we see that in thirteen governments there were
301 Jewish settlements, consisting of 10,721 families,
and a total population of 68,959 souls, occupying an
area of 100,107 desjatins (about 275,000 acres). This
population includes artisans and small traders who
possess no land, the number of those who possess land
being about 58,881 souls!
The land in the colonies is mostly the property of the
State, and is held by the colonists as an inheritance from
1 An historical account of the Colonisation is given in a book by
Julius Elk, The Jewish Colonies in Russia (FrankfortTa.-M,, 1886),
A SELF-CONTAINED JEWISH LIFE 245
JEWISH AGRICULTURAL COLONIES IN RUSSIA.
Governmental Department.
Number of
Settlers.
Number of
Families.
Number of
Persons.
Number
of desjatins
occupied.
Vilna,
32
372
2,414
4*392
Witebsk, -
“
28
1 192
1*235
1,914
Grodno, -
-
14
261
i,8ii
3.585
Kowno, -
-
15
216
1.604
2,649
Minsk,
-
26
885
5.762
6,601
Mohilew, -
-
76
824
5*828
5*343
Wolbynien,
-
18
991
5*003
5*551
Kiev,
-
23
447
3,221
2,812
Podolien,
-
15
652
3*279
2,191
Tschernigow, -
-
4
107
652
1,280
Bessarabia,
-
II
1,024
5*466
3*300
Cherson, -
-
22
3*304
24*295
42.839
Ekaterinoslav, -
"
17
1,416
8,389
17.650
Total,
-
301
10,721
68,959
100,107
father to son : a small portion of it is the property of
the colonists themselves or of other private individuals.
An enquiry into the divisions of land held by the Jewish
Colonisation Association in 1897 discovered that of
4,022 families possessing land (29,634 souls)
1,341 or 33.3 % had less than 2J desjatins.
996 or 24.8 % had 2| to 5 desjatins.
922 or 22.9 % had 5 to 10 desjatins.
527 or 13.1 % had 10 to 20 desjatins.
236 or 5.9 % had more than 20 desjatins.
(i desjatin = about 2| acres). The governments of
Cherson and Ekateiinoslav are not included in these
figures.
The colonists do not all work their own fields ; a
considerable number lease them out, so that of the
4,022 families possessing land of their own, only 2,568
246 THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
are actually engaged in agriculture. The number of
Jewish famihes in all the colonies together who eire
really engaged in agriculture should not be estimated
at more than 5>ooo, or 30,000 souls.
Opinions differ greatly as to the economic condition
of the colonies ; the truth seems to be that, though
not yet brilliantly prosperous, they are maldng slow pro-
gressj particularly since they started tree plantations
in addition to farming. Outside the Jewish colonies
there are scattered here and there in Russia, Jews who,
though not properly speaking farmers, are interested
in branches of agricultmre. According to the report
of the J.C.A. in 1899 there were 11,894 Jews engaged
in horticulture, 1,746 in tobacco plantation, 665 in
vine plantation, 177 in bee-farming, 7,185 in dairy
work.
Besides the Jewish agricultural colonies in Russia,
which are already over a hundred years old, there are
Jewish agricultural settlements in the United States, in
the Argentine and in Palestine, all of which have been
founded within the last three decades. In the United
States there are a nmnber of Jewish colonies which
sprang up after the year 1881 by the private initiative
of immigrant Russian Jews, but which have since either
failed, or been compelled to appeal for help to Jewish
philanthropists or charitable institutions. The most
important of the existing colonies are Woodbine,
Carmel, Rosenha3m, Alliance, Hunderton, all in the
State of New Jersey. The colonies — ^Woodbine in
particular — ^have a strong industrial character; one
section of the inhabitants is excltlsively, another only
partially engaged in manufactures and workrooms;
only about one-half or two-thirds of the inhabitants
* This was the view of the Jewish agronome Oettmger in 1909.
A SELF-CONTAINED JEWISH LIFE 245^
maintain themselves solely on agriculture, which takes
the form of wine, fruit, vegetable and dairy produce.
Outside New Jersey there are some small Jewish colonies
and a considerable number of individual Jewish farmers
in the States of New York and Connecticut, and in the
more westerly States, notably North Dakota. These
farmers are not much engaged in farming proper ; like
the Russian Jews outside the colonies who are interested
in agriculture, they are for the most part vegetable
growers, gardeners, dairy farmers ; and their products
being perishable food-stuffs, they remain in close con-
nection with their market, i.e. the towns. In 1910 the
Jewish Agricultural and Industrial Aid Society in New
York estimated the number of agricultural businesses
in Jewish hands at 2,984. Of these 656 were in the
State of New Jersey, 517 in the State of Connecticut,
840 in the State of New York, 240 in North Dakota,
169 in Massachusetts, the remainder in other States.
The total number of Jews in the United States engaged
one way and another in agriculture is about 20,000 souls
(including their families). In Canada there are also
four Jewish Agricultural Colonies, Hirsch with 40,
Qu'Appelle with about 180, Oxbow with about 15, and
Bender with about 70 families.
The Argentine colonies owe their foundation to Baron
de Hirsch, who thought to solve the Jewish question
by settling Jews as farmers and workmen in countries
outside Europe, a plan for the realisation of which he
founded the Jewish Colonisation Association (J.C.A.)
with a capital of about £10,000,000. The first Jewish
colonies in the Argentme were founded by this Associa-
tion in the early nineties. The condition of the colonies
at the end of the year 1908 is shown in the following
table, compiled from the Ra'pj>ort de V Administration
248 THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
Centrale de la Jewish Colonisaiion Association pour
Vannee 1908 (Paris, 1909).
Name of Colony.
1
No. OF Colonists.
Not Colonists.
Total
Population.
Surface
cultivated
in hectares
(i hectare
acres!.
Families
Souls.
Families
Souls.
Families
Souls.
Moisesville,
5II
2,770
129
1,040
640
3,810
10,840
Mauricio, -
317
1,614
170
700
487
2,314
19.750
Clara,
631
3.477
198
1,061
829
4.538
19,690
San Antonio,
861
14
82
165
943
4.54X
Lucienville,
Baron de
316
1,767
203
1,232
519
2,999
16,550
Hirscli,
143
728
43
164
186
892
13.136
Santa Isabel,
49
275
—
—
49
275
—
Total, -
2,118
11,492
757
4.279
2,875
X5.771
84.507
The colonies are composed of an agricultural popula-
tion of 2,118 families (11,492 souls) to which we must
add labourers, tradesmen, teachers and so forth, to the
number of about 4,000. The area of each colony is
about 210,000 acres, of which about one-half is sown
with wheat, and the other with flax, oats, maize asad
lucerne. There were about 109,376 head of cattle,
37,975 horses and mules, 31,342 sheep. In almost
all the colonies cattle-rearing and dairy-work play a
great part in addition to the actual fanning. Economi-
cally the colonies are said by the J.C.A. to be in satis-
factory condition ; it appears, however, that many
colonists, instead of working their own land, farm it out
to the natives to cultivate, the land having greatly
increased in value since the opening of the new railway.
The J.C.A. will certainly enlarge its work of colonis-
ation in the Argentine. It has already made large
purchases of land for this pmpwse ; the total amount
A SELF-CONTAINED JEWISH LIFE 249
of land owned by it in the Argentine in 1908 was
1,277,325 acres.i
The Jewish colonies in Palestine have been founded
within the last three decades to a small extent by
Palestine enthusiasts from Rtzssia, but chiefly by
systematic colonisation aided by the munificence of
Baron Edmond de Rothsduld and with the funds
entrusted by him to the J.C.A. These colonies have
often been in a critical position, and great efiorts were
needed to keep them above water ; but during the last
five years their condition has been improving, and many
colonies, especially those which cultivate oranges in
the neighbourhood of Jaffa, have reached a state of
prosperity. Besides orange-growing, vine culture is a
large industry in the Southern Palestine colonies, and
large wine cellars have been built for the purpose in
Rischon-le-Zion and Zichron Jacob. Of late the culture
of olives, almonds and cereaJb is becoming increasingly
popular, the chief colonies for these products being
those in North Palestine (Galilee) . There is little cattle-
raising, and vegetable produce is scarce. There are
now in Palestine altogether about thirty Jewish colonies
with an area of about 75,000 acres, and an agricultural
population of about 1,000 families (6,000 souls). Be-
sides these, about 2,000 persons live in the colonies,
not engaged in agriculture, such as labourers, teachers,
small traders, landlords and their dependents.
To sum up : about 5,000 Jewish peasant-families
have been established by the Russian Government
during the last hundred years, and a further 6,000-7,000
1 With the Argentine colonies we should mention the Brazilian
colony Philippson, also under the direction of the J*C.A. At the
end of 1908 it numbered 42 colonist families — 299 souls, and occupied
an area of 13,338 acres, of which about 10,000 acres were cultivated.
250
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
families have been settled during the last thirty years
by Jewish colonisation societies and private persons
who took to agriculture on their own initiative. This
brings up the total of Jewish agriculturist families in
the world to-day to 11,000-12,000. Having regard to
the time spent and the enormous means at the disposal
of the colonisation societies, this result can hardly be
called brilliant, but it is not to be despised, in view of
all the difaculties encountered. These were particularly
great at the start. Jewish farmers had to be made out
of men who for generations had been townspeople and
petty traders; they lacked the necessary qualities,
physical strength, rural traditions, technical knowledge.
To these diffi culties we must add the -fact that the
colonists were recruited chiefly from the poorest of the
proletariat, who expected by colonisation to improve
their economic condition. Colonisation offered no
attraction to Jews of means who were happy in trade
and industry, and the philanthropic character, which
the colonisation assumed in the last three decades, re-
sulted in the poorest Jews being chosen, by preference,
for colonisation. These poor Jews becoming suddenly
possessed of land, house and effects, were in most cases
devoid of any capacity to make use of their possessidns,
and they lacked also the love and solicitude which the
genuine peasant feels for the home he has won inch by
inch by the sweat of his brow. The result of this
physical incapacity was that only a fraction of the
colonists remained on the land ; the greater number fell
away, either because they were unable or imwiUing to do
the hard physical work, or because village life was
uncongeni^ to them ; or perhaps because they were
so utterly lacking in agricultural and economic know-
ledge that they saw no prospect of making a living.
A SELF-CONTAINED JEWISH LIFE 25I
The colonisation societies tried to make good this de-
ficiency in knowledge by appointing an administrator
whose office was to put the colonists in the right way ;
but this was sending Beelzebub to drive out Satan. The
colonists were indeed protected from great mistakes,
but they thereby lost the feeling of independence and
responsibility, and fell into the habit of asking help and
money of the administrator whenever they were in
trouble. Instead of becoming self-supporting farmers,
they became cadging beggars. The admhiistration
system has since been given up, but its pernicious
influence is still felt, especially in the Rothschild
colonies in Palestine. In the place of administration,
the colonisation societies, especially the J.C.A., have
adopted the S3rstem of settling only such persons who
have had some experience in agriculture, either as agri-
cultural labourers or as sons of colonists, and who are
accustomed to rural life. This system works better,
and the percentage of unsuccessful colonists has per-
ceptibly decreased. Thus the large sums of money,
expended seemingly without result by the colonisation
societies, have borne fruit at any rate in the second
generation. It was probably necessary that money
should be lavished. If the means and good-will had
not been forthcoming to colonise a hundred Jews in
order to win ten for agriculture, we should not to-day
have had these ten colonists who are most valuable for
the furtherance of colonisation. The begin n i n g was
difficult and expensive, but it has greatly facilitated
all later effort. In one respect the work of colonisation
has come to a dead stop ; it is possible to find people
with some agricultural knowledge who are willing to
colonise, but impossible to find any with capital. Apart
from a few enthusiastic Zionists, the only applicants
252
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
for colonisation are people of no means whatsoever,
whom the societies have to provide with ever3d:hing,
down to the smallest article necessary for their settle-
ment. The effect of this is bad in two senses : in the
first place, as we have already mentioned, the colonist
lacks the necessary care and sohcitude for his property ;
and in the second place he has no credit basis on which
to fall back in bad times. He depends entirely upon
the pleasure of the colonisation society ; in times of
adversity, such as a bad harvest, they must come to his
help or he may be ruined. Such a state of affairs is not
likely to develop either a feeling of independence and
self-reliance, or any intimate connection with the soU.
The colonist knows that one single bad harvest, or a
cattle epidemic, would be sufficient to ruin him alto-
gether ; but he knows, at the same time, that he has
nothing to lose, and readily leaves hearth and home in
cases when, were his own property at stake, he would
undoubtedly struggle against adversity, and by exerting
all his energy, at least make an effort to ward off the
danger.
There is still another disadvantage in the colonisation
of persons without means : it requires enormous sums
of money, the cost of settlement for every colonist
being £750 or more. It is obvious that at such a cost
only a relativdy small number of persons can be
settled.
D. Economic possibility of a return to agriculture.
If, instead of some dozens, we wish to see some
hundreds or even thousands of Jews reverting to agri-
culture every year, this can only happen if private
persons of their own accord devote themselves to agri-
culture, and are willing to set up as independent farmers.
A SELF-CONTAINED JEWISH LIFE 253
defraying, themselves, all the costs of installation. But
is this to be expected ? Certainly not, if cereal-growing
is the only prospect ; for the private man of means it
entails too much hard ph3^ical labour and intimate
agricultural knowledge. The Jew of East Europe who
possesses the capital of £y50-£i,ooo necessary for in-
stallation as a farmer can be assured of a good living
as an industrial employer, and naturally hesitates to
devote himself to a difficult and unknown calling. It
would be different if a return to agriculture presented
the prospect of easy work and an assured existence.
This would be the case if, instead of farming, he took
up fruit-growing. For this the soil of Palestine is
peculiarly adapted,,, and it demands neither hard work
nor particular agricultural knowledge when once the
trees are yielding fruit.^ If only some plantation
society could be organised which would encourage small
middle-class Jewish capitalists to invest in a fruitful
plantation, their reversion to agriculture would not
mean a step back in their material welfare or a leap in
the dark : on the contrary, the thought of dwelling
“ each man under his own vine and fig-tree ” would
no longer appear economically an unpractical dream.
The Jew who thus acquires a fruitful plantation does
not of course become a farmer ; he is only the owner of
a plantation, but he lives in an agricultmral milieu and
his children may grow up in this milieu as real husband-
men. They will ,be able to add com to fruit-growing,
and to engage in all branches of farming, especially if
^ It would seem that the Jew is far better adapted to arboriculture
than to agriculture. This is no doubt the reason why the Jews of
Russia and the United States who voluntarily undertook colonisation
work should have chosen mainly dairy work, horticulture, tobacco-
planting and vine-growing. In Palestine the Jewish plamtation
colonies are technically superior to the German colonies.
254
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
care is taken that they receive elementary agricultural
education, either in the village schools or from special
teachers, so that the love of and understanding for
agriculture is awakened in them.^
The Jewish colonies of South Palestine, which are
primarily fruit-growing colonies, furnish a proof for
our statement, that the children of fruit-growers are
at home inwall agricultural callings, including actual
tillirig of the sod. For the sake of the sons it is
necessary to win the fathers. The agricultural schools
erected at great expense by the colonisation societies
in Jaffa (Palestine), Djedeida (Tunis), Or-Jehuda (Asia
Minor), Woodbine (United States), Slobodka-Lesna
(Galicia), Stemhorst (Hanover), and elsewhere, only
accomplish to a very small extent and with doubtful
success that which is accomplished in the cheapest and
most natural way in the father's household in the rural
atmosphere and in the village schools, namely, the
education of the children in practical farming. It
would be wrong to hold up the dull farmer of North
and East Europe, who still tills his field as his ancestors
did before him, as a model to the active-minded
Jew. Modem husbandry has outgrown this type of
peasantry; its best representative is the intelligent
American farmer who works with all the instruments
modem science has invented. He must be the model
for the Jewish farmer.
If Jewish capital in East Europe could be turned to
1 This is specially necessary for the daughters, who suffer very
much from the present neglect of agricultural education in the
Jewish colonies. Many a colonist cannot make a living because his
wife has no knowledge of those pursuits, which in a well-ordered
farming establishment should be her special province. It is chiefly
owing to the incapacity of the women that dairy-produce and
vegetable produce have not been developed in Palestine.
A SELF-CONTAINED JEWISH LIFE 255
the uses of colonisation and arboriculture, there would
be the additional advantage of a new field of labour for
Jews without means, who would thus become inured to
agriculture.^ As yet there are few such labourers, and
Jewish colonisation is- thereby deprived of a possible
source of much assistance. A great influx of Jewish
labourers would only be possible if these men could look
forward to the prospect of becoming something more
than hired servants — of becoming eventually more or
less independent. This might be done by admitting
them after a few years of work as hired labomrers to
co-operative settlements — as Franz Oppenheimer re-
commends — ^in which they would receive, in addition
to their regular wage, a portion of the gross profits.
This would spur them on to work, and give them the
chance of saving enough to buy a small piece of land
or a hoiise of tteir own.® Their wages as labourers
would still be their principal somrce of income, but, in
addition, they would be able to keep up a small
holding for dairy and vegetable produce, or poultry
farming, by which they could support their families,
and by gradual purchase of land raise themselves to
independence.
E. Colonisation — ‘philanthropic artd national.
Having shown that it is economically possible to
induce Jews both with and without means to revert to
1 In Palestine, for example, the Jewish immigrant labourer from
Eastern Europe cannot generally compete with the Arab who lives
on practically nothing, and is indispensable for preparing new
ground for Jewish settlers ; but in proportion as more ground is
acquired by Jews for plantations, more Jewish labourers will be
in demand.
* Here the Colonisation Societies could be of great use by granting
loans, repayable over a long space of time.
256 THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
agriculture, we must now see whether the Jews will
consent to do so. Economic life in Europe tends more
and more to develop industry and commerce at the
expense of agriculture. It is rare to find anyone who
has been previously engaged in industry and commerce
reverting to agriculture. If this is true of the general
public, it is stiU more so of the Jews. Their great
mental activity makes them turn naturally to trade and
industry as ofiering the best field for the exercise of
their talents ; they are, besides, so strikingly successful
in these callings that it would be small profit to them to
exchange them for one for which they are not so weU
adapted. So long as intelligence has a commercial
value — as it has in the countries where the Jews prin-
cipally reside — ^it will at best be orly the less intelligent
Jews who will engage in agricultture and persist in it.
Paradoxical as it may sound, it is better that the Jewish
agricultural schools should train unintelligent pupils ;
this is the only way to prevent the majority from
subsequently giving up agriculture.
To sum up : it seems to us that a voluntary return
of Jews to agriculture on a large scale will ordy come
about from other than economic causes. For instance,
a great movement might be started which, recognising
that the present condition of the Jews threatens their
annihilation, postulates a return to agriculture as the
only means of preserving the Jewish community. If
such a movement is to succeed, and the conditions
which it creates are to last, the economic aspect — the
indispensable factor in social life everywhere — ^must be
favourable. Enthusiasm may create a change, but the
change will not last if economic conditions do not come
to its aid, i.e. in our case, if agriculture does not hold
its own against trade and industry. If we show that it
A SELF-CONTAINED JEWISH LIFE 257
can, as we have tried to do, the return of the Jews to
agriculture might be realised on a large scale.
This return to agriculture from national motives,
which we shall hereafter call national colonisation, is
greatly superior to the philanthropic colonisation
previously discussed. Philanthropic colonisation is
concerned only with people without means ; national
colonisation affects aU sections of Jewry. It can dis-
pense with the great sums needed by philanthropic
colonisation, since it relies on small Jewish capitalists
giving their own substance for the purpose of colonisa-
tion. Its aim, to lay the foundation of a secure social
and economic life for the Jews, is one to inspire en-
thusiasm, and thereby to conquer the difficulties which
wrecked philanthropic colonisation.
The lessons whidfi we have learnt by the results of
previous colonisation are :
1. For cereal growing only those Jews are suited
who have been engaged in agriculture from their
youth.
2. Middle-aged people who lack agricultural know-
ledge, will find that fruit-growing offers the only
possibility of a return to husbandry. Their children
will find this a stepping-stone to a thorough knowledge
of all matters coimected with agriculture.
3. Philanthropic colonisation, which provides colon-
ists without means with land, house and stock, entails
enormous expenditure and has relatively little effect, a
great number of the colonists proving incapable and
unfit.
4. The most important question in colonisation is
how to preserve the stimulus to work and to persevere
even in the face of adverse circumstances. The colonist
without means is apt either to desert his home or to beg
258
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
for assistance. The independent colonist alone can be
relied upon to stay and struggle on unaided.
5. The philanthropic colonisation societies would
achieve much better results if they would confine them-
selves to advancing loans on credit to the settlers as
cottagers, cereal farmers or fruit-growers — according to
the means and capacities of the individual — after the
manner of the European agrarian banks.
6. A return of the Jews to agriculture on a large
scale will not be brought about by any amount of
philanthropic colonisation ; it is only possible through a
colonisation movement, inspired by a national motive
which will attract Jews with means.
CHAPTER XVI.
REVIVAL OF THE HEBREW LANGUAGE.
A. Yiddish and Hebrew.
The language of the East European Jew is Jargon
(Yiddish). But it covers only one side of Jewish life.
It is the " everyday ” language. The language of Jewish
literature and religion is Hebrew. The Jew thinks and
prays in Hebrew whenever his thoughts soar above
everyday life ; it is in Hebrew that the East European
Jew has set down everything he has thought and ex-
perienced in the sphere of religion and study down to
the present day. This division between the literary
and the colloquial language is not uncommon ; the
same thing is found, for instance, in the difference
' between spoken Arabic and the Arabic of literature.
In speaking of the language of the Jews, the question
arises whether Yiddish ot Hebrew is meant. Both
languages exert about the same influence on the thought
and feeling of the East European Jew, and seciflar
knowledge can b6 equally well conveyed in either. To
which language should the preference be given ?
Yiddish has in its favour that it is already the language
of the masses, and its relationship to German renders
Gemian literature easily accessible. On the other hand,
the absence of a classical literature induces a feding of
' instability, the language is alwa 3 ^ changing, and the
26 o
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
influence of English in England and America has
already brought about many alterations. A language
which has such a shifting foundation and which has no
pretence to grammar is not very suitable for educational
and literary purposes. In addition, Yiddish is not
calcidated to command the respect of other nations,
in particular of its nearest relation, German. It is true,
no doubt, that many of the phrases which sound peculiar
to German ears are good old German forms borrowed
from Mittelhochdeutsch. But the Tertium compara-
tionis win always be the German of to-day, and against
that Yiddish — ^like Plattdeutsch — will be hard put to
it to maintain its dignity.
With Hebrew it is another matter. Its literature of
3,000 years, and its well-defined grammar make it a
splendid educational language. Its literary treasures
and its past would ensure for it, as a living language,
the esteem not only of the Jews, but of all enlightened
nations. A knowledge of Hebrew is still cultivated by
Christians, and is taught at all European Universities.
Should it be again revived by the Jews, it would
awaken the greatest interest among Christian scholars,
and works written in Hebrew would be accessible to
Christian readers. It would create sympathies similar
to those which the new Greek language — ^by derivation
from classical Greek — evoked from the European .
nations. A knowledge of Yiddish, on the other hand,
would be closely confined to the Jews, and would have
no more importance than that of other petty national
dialects, such as Servian and Bulgarian.
B. Hebrm as the national language in Palestine.
These remarks will suffice to show that Hebrew is the
most desirable tongue and the best qualified to be
REVIVAL OF HEBREW LANGUAGE 261
the national language of the Jews. Has it a claim
ipso facto to become the national language ?
Efforts to revive Hebrew as the mother-tongue of the
Jews have been on foot during the last few decades, and
have of late years been renewed with added -^gour ;
societies for the furtherance of the Hebrew language,
work in every country for the revival of the ancient
national language. In Russia and Galicia interest in
Hebrew as a spoken language is growing, the number
of those who habitually speak Hebrew has increased,
and a so-called neo-Hebrew literature has arisen, which
has a distinct modem tendency ; but we must not shut
our eyes to the fact that this movement, so far, only
affects a very small section of the Jewish population,
and that the masses remain untouched by it. The
Jewish newspapers of East Europe, which have an
immense circulation, are still, with very few exceptions,
written in Yiddish, not in Hebrew. It is tmthinkable
that Hebrew can ever become the colloquial language of
the Jewish masses in East Europe. It is difficult enough
to preserve the language of a small nation in the midst
of another prevailing language; it is far more difficult to
create a new national language in place of one which
already prevails. Hebrew is completely isolated among
the European languages ; economically there is ab-
solutely no incentive in East Europe for adopting
Hebrew as the general language. It is the “Holy
Language,” the language of prayer and of ancient
Jewish literature, and as such suffers considerable
discredit under the present fashion of depreciating all
matters religious.
Conditions are more favourable to Hebrew in another
country, Palestine. Here thirty years of effort for the
revival of the Hebrew language have been crowned with
262
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
success : most of the Jewish schools have adopted
Hebrew as the language of instruction, while it is gradu-
ally becoming the mother-tongue of the Jewish youth.
Palestine offers special advantages for the revival of
Hebrew, the majority of Jewish settlers there being
ffUed with the national spirit, and thus especially sym-
pathetic to the ancient national language. Besides
this, Hebrew is the only language in which all Jews can
malce themselves understood, coming as they do to
Palestine from every country of the world ; whatever
their mother-tongue, be it Arabic, Russian, Spaniolisch
or Yiddish, they can all understand at least a little
Hebrew. Thus Hebrew is a bond of union between
these Jews ; and we get an idea of the diversity of
language among them by the following figures from
three Jerusalem Kindergartens in 1907. Of the 305
children attending them :
39-3 % spoke Spaniolisch as their mother-tongue.
38.0 % „ Yiddish
7.1 % „ Arabic
5.2 % „ Bucharic
5.2 % „ Persian
3.2 % „ Grusinic
i.o % „ Morocco dialects „ „
i.o % „ Bulgarian
These reasons alone, however, would not have sufficed
to secure the supremacy of Hebrew, had not economic
and social conditions been favourable to the revival.
In no other country has the Jewish agricultural popula-
tion, such a strong influence over the general Jewish
population. Although the number of Jews in the
colonies is only 10 per cent, of the Jewish population of
Palestine, it is economically much stronger than the
REVIVAL OF HEBREW LANGUAGE 263
tovm population, which exists for the most part on
Chalukah. It is the colonies which have established
Hebrew as the living language. In order to transplant
Hebrew from the colonies to the towns, it will be
necessary for the Jews of the towns to deal with Jews
{i.e. with the colonists and the Chalukists) in preference
to the surrounding Arabs, and so get accustomed to
using Hebrew in their daily and business life.
The efforts to bring cohesion into the Jewish schools
of Palestine are likely to lead to the universal adoption
of Hebrew as the language of instruction, other lan-
guages being taught as foreign languages.^ Ten years
ago one could almost count the Jews in Palestine who
spoke Hebrew ; to-day in aU the Jewish quarters of
the towns and in the colonies Hebrew is heard more
often than any other language, especially from the
children. The demand that every Jew shall speak
Hebrew is becoming widespread. The acknowledg-
ment of Jewish nationality is practically identified in
Palestine with the acknowledgment of Hebrew as the
national language. (The same thing occurs with other
nations who lack political independence, Poles, Ruthe-
nians, etc.) We can see how Hebrew has taken root
in Palestine by the fact that all JeAvish newspapers
and periodicals there are written in Hebrew, not a
single publication being issued in either Yiddish or
1 Arabic (the native language), Turkish (the official language), and
one European language are taught as foreign languages. French
(the language of instruction in the schools of the Alliance Israelite
Universelle, and the ruling language in the Levant) and German
(the language of instruction in the schools of the Hilfsverein der
Deutschen Juden, and becoming daily of more importance with
the growth of German influence in the Orient) struggle for the mastery
with Hebrew. English also has its supporters, and is taught in
some schools.
s 64 the jews op to-day
Spaniolisch. The common language has its effect on
the population, and makes for a rapprochement between
the Sephardim and Ashkenazim. The coolness which
still exists in the East between Sephardim and Ash-
kenazim has tended to disappear in Palestine, and this
is greatly due to the common language.
It may at any rate be claimed that in Palestine the
reawakening of the Hebrew language is no longer a
dream but a reality. Hebrew in that country, from
being a dead language, has really become a living one,
and much is being done to strengthen its hold and to
modify it to suit the uses of daily life. The development
of the plant, which to-day is still young and tender,
depends principally on the development of national
agricultural colonisation in Palestine. If that suffers
a set-back, Hebrew will suffer too. Without numerous
agricultural colonies, the Hebrew language will be an
artificial and lifeless product ; with such colonies in
Palestine, it will be a natural and vital growth.
CHAPTER XVII.
LOCAL SEGREGATION OF THE JEWS.
A. Local segregation and its relation to culture.
We have already shown that it is necessary for Jews
to live together in compact communities if they wish
to be protected against assimilation, to which in their
present condition of small scattered minorities they
have fallen victims. Just as an army in hostile territory
is much more easily destroyed when it is divided into
small groups than when it is concentrated in a mass,
so Jews could best withstand assimilation by concentra-
tion in great numbers in one area. The defensive value
of local segregation is not its only recommendation ;
it has the added positive value of creating a centre for
the production of an individual civilisation. It is
almost a truism to say that even the greatest minds are
influenced by their surroundings, and that their work
bears not only the impress of their genius, but the
impress of the conditions of its production. If the
environment is non-Jewish, the creative work of the
Jews win be either un-Jewish, or Jewish only to a slight
extent. For this reason there may be Jewish artists,
but no Jewish art. Jewish art presupposes a Jewish
milieu, i.e. first and foremost, masses of Jews living
together. Such a milieu is the only one which can make
the creative artist free of foreign influences, and by its
266
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
kinship of race and sentiment thoroughly appreciate
him and spur him on to his best work.
How can the Jews create this centre ? They need a
country in which all our previously mentioned con-
ditions for the creation of a new Jewish culture can be
f ulfill ed ; where they must be engaged in every occupa-
tion including agriculture, where they can use their own
language and have their own schools. The land chosen
must be one which, if it does not particularly favour,
must not preclude Jews from taking up non-commercial
callings, notably agriculture — a lUnd which would make
for the national unity of Israel.
Hitherto there have been three different answers to
the question in which land the Jews can best live in
compact masses, and therein build up a firm Jewish
economic life. They are so many different manifesta-
tions of the WiU to live, the desire of preserving the
Jews as a separate entity among the nations, and each
of them deserves serious discussion. The first answer
is that the Jews should concentrate in Eastern Europe
and .organise themselves on a national basis ; the
second — Israel ZangwiU’s solution — ^recommends some
territory in Africa or America, as yet untouched by
Europeans ; the third solution — that of the Zionists —
makes Palestine the one and only possible centre for
a new Jewish life.
B. Prospects of concentration in Eastern Europe.
The first solution is nearest to hand. In some dis-
tricts of Eastern Europe the Jews constitute already
about one-fifth of the population. A further influx of
Jews to these districts from other parts would present
no great difficulties, distances being small and social
and climatic conditions very much the same as those to
LOtAL SEGREGATION OF THE JEWS 267
which they had always been accustomed. In Yiddish
a common language would be already provided. But
there are some very serious objections. In the first
place, Russian law to-day forbids Jews to settle in
villages, and this practically precludes all possibility
of agriculture ; and it is certain that the government,
with its policy of crushing out all minor nationalities
within the state, would fiercely oppose any local seg-
regation of Jews. But this might pass ; laws and
policies change with the lapse of time ; and these diffi-
culties could be surmounted in Austria, where the
equality of the Jews and the rights of all minor nation-
alities are at any rate legally recognised. But two
obstacles still remain. A return to agriculture would
not be successful in Eastern Europe, and the cultivation
of a new Jewish life would be exposed to constant inter-
ruption and disturbance. Eastern Emrope is on the
way to industrialism : industrial society offers countless
opportunities to the Jews, eind even if the attempts at
agriculture were a success, there would always be the
danger that at the slightest hint of failure the Jews
would leave their new activities and revert again to
commerce and industry. After 2,000 years of town-
dwelling it is not to be expected that the Jews should
suddenly feel themselves at home in agriculture. Very
much the same thing applies to the creation of a new
Jewish culture. East Europe is too near the vast fields
of European culture. To develop a culture of their
own, the Jews would have to live apart from other
culture for some little time. They would not be able
to persist in an individual nationality and culture
against the tide of assimilation with which they would
be assailed as long as they remain in the midst of
nations of a superior state of culture. They would be
268
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
constantly exposed to the temptation of imitating what
they see done around them, and thus their civilisation,
instead of being Jewish, would be an inferior edition of
Polish, German or Russian cultures.
In fact, the idea of a Jewish centre in East Europe
has found few supporters. There is much talh of a
“ National Autonomy ” of the Jews, that is, a
legally assured position as a nationality in the legis-
lature, and greater powers of autonomy in proportion
to their numbers (without local segregation). In
Galicia and Bukovina nationd autonomy is one of the
principal claims of those Jews who have national aspira-
tions. But a national autonomy such as this is not
calculated either to prove a lasting protection against
assimilation or to create a national Jewish culture, so
long as the Jews remain as scattered and as little at
home in agriculture as they are now in Austria and
Galicia. The process of assimilation might, however,
possibly be retarded by a legally assured national
position, and it is no doubt for this reason that in
Galicia and Bukovina the Zionists (whose ideal is
Palestine) work for local national autonomy.
C. Prospects of segregation in the colonies {Terri-
torialism).
A Jewish centre in Eastern Europe bristles with diffi-
culties. Do the undeveloped colonies offer a better
field for Jewish settlement ? In this direction the only
concrete proposition came from the English Govern-
ment, whose offer of Uganda for a Jewish settlement
was refused by the Zionists. Israel Zangwill, who
pleaded in vain for the acceptance of the Uganda offer,
has since put himself at the head of a " Territorialist ”
movement. Tenritorialism lays down that, Palestine
LOCAL SEGREGATION OF THE JEWS 269
being impracticable, the Jews must concentrate on
some other territory ; it endeavours to find some
suitable land either in thek undeveloped districts of
North Africa or in Central America or Australia ; but
it has nothing definite to report. It is undeniable that
the Jews who should leave their native countries for
one of these lands would be protected from assimilation,
and on the way to developing their own culture. But
the question is whether it is possible to settle the Jewish
masses in such a country. This is open to the very
gravest doubts. In the first place, it is highly im-
probable that a tract of land suitable for colonisation
by European Jews wall be so easy to find ; Uganda was
certainly not adapted to a large settlement. But given
such a country, the colonisation of an unpopulated and
undeveloped country presents such gigantic difiiculties
that even powerful states are frequently xmable to sur-
moimt them. When we remember that the so-called
Territorialists only entertain the idea of such a land
because they thitik it would present fewer difficulties
than Palestine, it must be admitted that they under-
estimate the obstacles. Palestine may indeed present
political obstacles which do not exist in a colonial
country. But against that the social and economic
difficulties are slight m comparison. Under the most
favourable circumstances, it would take many scores
of years to settle as many Jews in a foreign territory as
are already established to-day in Palestine. And pro-
bably by that time the work will prove to have been
useless, and the political difficulties which now stand
in the way of Jewish immigration to Palestine on a
large scale will exist no longer. It would be slightly
different if it were a question of settling Jews in Meso-
potamia or Asia Minor, instead of in undevdoped
270
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
colonies. The economic diffictilties here would be
hardly greater than in Palestine, though, of course, the
enthusiasm which Jews feel for their ancient home, and
which is of such extraordinary value for a settlement in
Palestine, would here be lacing also. But there is no
sign that the Turkish government would be more sym-
pathetically disposed to a settlement of Jews in Meso-
potamia or Asia Minor than to one in Palestine ; so the
matter need not be discussed.
D. Prospects of segregation in Palestine {Zionism),
The only excuse for Territorialism is the terrible
distress among East Emopean Jews, which is such that
any scheme for its amelioration — ^be it never so nebulous
— ^finds ready support. Is Zionism an3dJnng more than
another such adventurous scheme ? Will that which
seems impracticable in Eastern Europe and colonial
countries be possible in Palestine ? It is impossible to
answer unhesitatingly in the affirmative. But we may
say at once that many of the difficulties before enume-
rated disappear or become less formidable as soon as
Palestine is proposed as the land for segregation.
The climate is healthy and permits of the settlement of
European Jews. Palestine is sufficiently civilised and
in close enough conmnmication with modem life to
obviate difficulties of colonisation such as would be
encountered in a new undeveloped country ; at the
same time it is not so, highly civilised that the Jews
might be tempted to coalesce with the non-Jewish
population. With regard to culture it offers exactly
the milieu needed by the Jews ; not too backward to
deter them, not advanced enough to divert them.
Palestine belongs to Turkey — ^a state made up of small
nationalities — and at the same time the only state m
LOCAL SEGREGATION OF THE JEWS 271
which Jews have always been treated as a nation on
equal footing with other nations. Palestine is an
agricultural country and will remain so for many de-
cades. It, therefore, does not offer any temptations
to the agricultural settler to give up agriculture in
favour of some business profession. There are some
100,000 Jews in Palestine to-day, and colonisation
work has been going on there for the last thirty years.
It is impossible to over-estimate the importance of
these facts. And the feelings and sentiment of the
Jewish masses are bound up with Palestine, the ancient
home of the Jews, more closely than with any other
country.
If, besides all this, we bear in our mind our previous
remarks as to the special advantages of Palestine for
a reversion to agricultural life and for the revival of the
Hebrew language, we must come to the conclusion that,
for the settlement of the Jewish masses and the develop-
ment of their own culture, Palestine is to be preferred
before all other countries. It may be that the first
Jews who proposed a Jewish settlement in Palestine
did so less from the practical motives than from the
force of sentiment which a sense of the religious and
historical importance of Palestine awakens in so many
Jews. Their sentiment has been justified, and fur-
nishes one more example in history of instinct preceding
reason, in which it afterwards finds its justification.
If a portion of the Jews of Europe were to return
to Palestine, we should witness a repetition of that
return to Zion which was accomplished 2,500 years ago,
when a fraction of the Jews came back to Palestine
after the Babylonian exile. Babylon then — hke Europe
to-day — ^was the centre of culture and the hot-bed of
assimilation. As with the European Jews to-day only
272
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
a small niimber could make up their mind to exchange
the comfort of Babylon for the barreimess of Palestine.
Yet that small handful of Jews grew again into a nation
with a well-defined civilisation of its own. The thought
of this should inspire the Jews of the present day, and
it is only right that Zionism — ^the movement which
aims at providing a continued national existence for
the Jews in Palestine — should be the subject of our
last chapter.
SECTION VI.
ZIONISM
CHAPTER XVIII.
ZIONISM.
A. Origin and growth of Zionism.
The desire to return to Jerusalem has never ceased
burning in the hearts of the Jews, and two thousand
years of exile have not sufBiced to wipe out the remem-
brance of their former state. In the course of the
centuries the expression of this desire has taken many
diSerent forms. During the first thousand years of
the Christian era it bore a political character. In a
famous letter from the Jewish statesman Chasdai Ibn
Schaprut (Spain, 915-970) to Joseph, King of the
Chazars, whose ancestor Bulan had embraced Judaism
two himdred years before, we feel the bximing pain of lost
independence, of shame at the mockery of other nations,
that Israd, alone of the nations, should be without a
land of his own. The love of Zion, the yearning for its
lost glory, inspire aH the poems of the greatest of the
Jewish poets of Spain, Jehudah Halevi, who in his old
age went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
From the twelfth century onward this ardent desire
for Palestine began to lose its intensity. Conditions
were so favomrable to the Jews in Spain that they pre-
ferred assimilation to a return to Palestine ; as their
lot deteriorated, as it rapidly did in Europe during the
fourteenth century, the remembrance of Zion became
the jews of TO-DAY
more vivid, but under the stress of persecution the
Jews lost faith in their own strength, and the aspiration
took on a religious and quiescent form. At each feast
of Passover the Jew still prayed " next year in Jeru-
salem,” but he now invested the words with a spiritual
significance ; he no longer hoped to see the Jews turning
their steps to Palestine in his own day, they must await
the coming of the Messiah to lead them thither. This
quiescent attitude, which discourages and deprecates
any active effort to rehabilitate the Jews in Palestine,
is the spirit which permeates the Jewish masses of
Eastern Europe to-day, and has dominated Jewry
since the fourteenth century.
Not until recent times has feeling on this subject been
aroused from its lethargy. During the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries, mnnbers of religious Jews of
advanced years used to wander to Palestine with the
pious wish of ending their days there and being buried
in holy soil. The Jewish communities of Jerusalem,
Hebron, Safed and Tiberias owe their present population
chiefly to these immigrations of aged persons, many
of whom brought with them their children and grand-
children. Though this population received monetary
support from its native cotmtries — ^this support being
soon converted into a regular system of almsgiving
(Chalukah) — ^it speedily fell into the greatest distress,
and had to appeal for help to European co-religionists.
Thus the Jews of Central and Western Europe came to
be interested in Palestine, and it became evident that
the word “ Palestine ” still" exercised its old power over
the spirit of the Jews. Two Rabbis, Rabbi Zevi Hirsch
Kalischer of Thom, and Rabbi Elias Gutmacher of
Gratz, started an agitation, towards the middle of the
nineteenth century, for the foqndaticm of Jewish agri-
ZIONISM
277
cultural colonies in Palestine, with a view to improving
the condition of the Palestinian Jews, and of uniting
Jews all the world over, in a common cause — ^the revival
of Jewish agriculture in Palestine. In the year 1870
an agricultural school at Jaffa was actually founded by
the Alliance Israelite Universelle, and some years later
the first colony was established. In Europe a society
was formed for the support of the Jewish colonies in
Palestine, the “ Union of Lovers of Zion ” (Chovevi
Zion), which held its first congress in Kattowitz in the
year 1884, when delegates were present from Russia,.
Germany, England and France. The movement re-
ceived a great impetus from Baron Edmond de Roths-
child of Paris, who took up the cause of Jewish agri-
cultural colonisation in Palestine with enthusiasm
during the eighties, and endowed it with immense sums
of money.
This work of colonisation may have been started
from philanthropic motives, but these gradually gave
place to the national motive, i.e. the idea of uniting the
Jews and protecting them from the dangers of the
Goluth (dispersion). As early as 1862 Moses Hess, in
his book, Rome and Jerusalem, had proclaimed the
national idea underlying Judaism, and in 1876, in her
novel, Daniel Deronda, the famous English authoress,
George Eliot,' created a hero whose ideal in life is to
create a, political existence for the Jewish people, to
give them a centre for their national life. The Russian
Jew, Leo Pinsker, writing under the influence of the
Jewish persecutions of 1881, propounds the same doc-
trine, and declares it, in his brochure, Auto-Emanci-pa-
tion, published in 1882, the only solution of the Jewish
question in Eastern Europe. Neithsr Hess, nor George
Eliot, nor Pinsker, however, designated Podestine as
278
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
the necessary centre, and the idea of nationality re-
mained in consequence a mere theory lacking flesh and
blood. It became a living thing only when the national
idea and Palestine were identified. It was the Zionist
Movement which bound the two together. At its first
congress, summoned by Theodor Herzl at Basel, 1897,
it drew up as its programme — “ Zionisni seeks to secure
a legally assured home for the Jewish people in Pales-
tine.” Since that day hundreds of thousands of Jews
in all countries have subscribed to that programme, pay
the an n ual shekel, and have become members of a
great organisation.
The enthusiasm which Zionism has aroused varies
very much in different countries. It finds most ardent
support in Russia and among the Russian emigrants
in England, America and South Africa ; a considerable
amount also in Roumania, Galicia and Bukovina ; on
the other hand, it makes slow headway in other parts
of Austria (Bohemia, Moravia^ etc.), in Hungary and
Italy, and wins still fewer adherents in Germany and
Holland and France. This double attitude to the
Zionist movement reveals the antithesis between East
and West. Wherever the Jewish masses constitute, as
they do in Russia and Galicia, a self-contained nation
with a culture of their own, living in bad material
circumstances and imder political oppression, en-
thusiasm for the Zionist ideal — ^to create a new and
better home for the Jewish people — ^is a matter of course.
The Eastern Jew may think the aim unattainable ; but
he desires it none the less. It is otherwise with the
Western Jew. Living m comfortable material circum-
stances, often in prosperity and luxury, under the pro-
tection of a well-ordered state, he identifies himsdf
with the culture of his native land. If he should
ZIONISM
279
become a Zionist — for himself .and not only for others —
he stands to lose much. Modem education makes the
Western Jew feel strange and superior to the Eastern
Jew, and undesirous of coming into close contact with
him. Only a few can rise above this feehng and re-
cognise a brother and an equal in the Eastern Jew ;
they are to be found mostly among members of orthodox
communities and families, brought up in the old Jewish
tradition, who feel the tie of reUgious brotherhood more
binding than any other. To these Western adherents
of Zionism we must add individual idealists with strong
racial feeling, and the still greater number of those who
have been special victims of anti-Semitism. With
these latter, the stronger their feeling of honour the
more insupportable become the open or disguised
insults and humiliations to which they are submitted,
and the more ardently do they desire to remodel their
condition. They turn to Zionism seeing in it a premise
of a radical change. It would be imtrue to say that
Zionism grew out of anti-Semitism alone, but anti-
Semitism is a powerful incentive, and its pessation
would be followed by a decline of Zionism. It is for
this reason that University men furnish so large a con-
tingent of Zionists in Austria and Germany, and form,
indeed, the very heart of the movement. It is a result of
thefactthatanti-Semitismis particularly directed against
Jews at the Universities and in professions, and these
in turn are particularly sensitive to slights and insults.
B. Revival of Judaism hy Zionism.
What Zionism has hitherto accomplished for the
revival of Judaism cannot be rated lightly. By its
congresses — ^attended by several hundred delegates
from aU parts of the world — ^it has not only established
28 o the jews of to-day
an international alliance among the Jews (this had
already been done by the Alliance Israelite Universelle),
but it has created an international Jewish sympathy.
It has succeeded in raising about £400,000 for a national
fund, most of it subscribed by its poorest supporters,
and in itself a witness to their self-sacrificing devotion.
But the greatest achievement of Zionism is, that by
its very existence it has once more created an ideal for
those Jews who had forsaken the Jewish religion, lost
their faith, and with it, all noble ideals. Baptised or
unbaptised, they were compelled to assist, repressed
and unbidden, in the cultural activities of the people
among whom they lived, or, entirely renouncing ideals,
to devote themselves to the piling up of wealth and to
material enjo37ment. Zionism has created an ideal for
these Jews, given a new meaning to life and endeavour.
Before the advent of Zionism the position of gifted and
serious-minded Jews was indeed pitiable. They were
tom in two by the discrepancy between on the one
hand their desire to identify themselves with, and
benefit, the culture of their native land and a justifiable
pride in their own capacity to do so, and on the other
the opposition they encountered, the humiliating and
embittering sense of social inferiority.^ Zionism came
as a solution, especially to young Jewish University men
in Germany and Austria. To get an idea of what
Zionism means to these students, we have only to com-
pare the quiet confidence and optunism of the Zionist
student at German and Austriap Universities with the
students in pre-Zionistic times, vacillating between
Judaism and baptism, timid, devoid of ideals. Finding
^ A vivid picture of this state of things (slightly overdrawn in
places) is given in Nordau^s drama, Doctor Kohn ; also in the novel,
Wefther dev Jude, by Ludwig Jakobowski, Dresden, 1903,
ZIONISM
281
the way made smooth for them by Zionism, there have
Dome forward many authors and poets, writing either in
Hebrew or Yiddish, who would hardly have dared to
write before. Again, the warmth with which many
Jews in recent years have devoted themselves to all
aspects of Jewish life is directly attributable to the fire
kindled by Zionism.
It is Zionism, again, which has re-established the
bond of unity between the Western and the Eastern
Jew. Before its advent the Western Jew remembered
his brother in Eastern Europe only when his sympathy
was aroused by bloody persecutions in Russia. Apart
from these catastrophes there was no connection be-
tween East and West. The relation between the
Western and Eastern Jew was not greatly different to
that between the Sephardim and Ashkenazim in the
eighteenth century, when the Sehardim in London
forbade marriage with the Ashkenazim, and actually
induced the town of Bordeaux to expel Aschkenazim
Jews. The Western Jew did not know the Eastern,
and did not wish to know him. He was ashamed of
him as of a poor uneducated relative, whom one pities
and supports in private but denies in public. The
great Jewish societies assumed the character of bene-
factors to the East European Jew ; they looked upon
him not as a colleague, but as the object of thdr bene-
volent activities. The Western Jew had no idea of
the wealth of idealism, of the undiscovered spiritual
treasures of the Russian Jews.
Zionism has changed all that. The gulf between
East and West is not yet filled in, but it has been
bridged, and vast possibilities have been opened up.
Even the Sephardim of the East (in Palestine and else-
where) have been touched by the breath of Zionism.
a82
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
They used to be contented enough with the schools of
the Alliance Israelite Univereelle, where their children
acquired useful knowledge, the French language in
particular, but were quite separated from the Asch-
kenazim. They were almost totally lacking in that
which, to the poorest Jew of Eastern Europe, is the
breath of his nostrils— love of Jewish literature and
lively sympathy with and interest in the fate of
the Jews all the world over.* k
Zionist efiort has to a certiifjt. extent succeeded in
making a breach in this apath^'and in arousing the
interest of the Sephardim in tW general condition of
Jewry and the importance of Palestm*. Much has still
to be done before the Sephardim are won over to
Zionism ; but among Sephardim youth it is gradually
finding acceptance, and little by little their minds are
becoming saturated with the Zionistic idea. This is
important, because the attitude of the Turkish Govern-
ment to Zionism is likely to depend very much upon the
attitude of its Jewi^ subjects.
C. Economic activity of the Zionists in Palestine.
Zionism has only recently started work in its own
field, Palestine. The present Jewish population of
Palestine is made up of three different sections of
immigrants ; first, the Spaniolisch-speaking Jews, who
directly or indirectly came to Palestine after the ex-
pulsion of the Jews from Spain; second, the Ash-
kenazi Jews, who, from religious motives, emigrated
from Eastern Europe in the eighteenth and ninteenth
centuries, and settled m Jerusalem, Hebron, Safed and
Tiberias ; third, the Ashkenazi Jews who, during the
1 The Jews of Salonica axe as exception to this rule, and have
preserved a specifically Jewish life.
ZIONISM
283
last thirty years, have gone out as labourers and small
traders under the influence of the Jewish Agricultural
Colonisation Societies and of Zionism. Besides these
three principal groups there is a comparatively small
number of Asiatic and African Jews who have come to
Palestine during the last two centuries from Buchara,
Persia, Southern Arabia, Northern Syria (Aleppo,
Urfa), the Caucasus and Morocco.
The lack of reliable statistics makes it impossible to
give any accurate figures for the Jewish population ;
ta kin g a general estiniate, we may say that their
numbers have increased from about 35,000 m 1880
(7 per cent, of the total population of 500,000 souls)
to 86,000 in the year 1910 (14.3 per cent, of the total
population of 600,000). The following table gives the
extraction, the increase and the local distribution of the
Jews in each decade, but for the reason given above, it
can make no claim to accuracy, and can only be a
general estimate. We see that the three great- muni-
grant sections are about equal in numbers, and that, of
the 86,000 Jews in Palestine, 50,000 live in Jerusalem
alone, 28,000 in five other towns, and only 8,000 in the
colonies. The economic condition of the populations
in the towns is bad. The old Ashkenazim — ^more
than a third of the population— is dependent upon
charitable support, which it derives from the “ Cha-
lukah ” — ^a fxmd of Several million francs contributed
by pious Jews all over the world for the upkeep of their
Palestinian brethren ; the rest of the Jews are small
traders, artisans and hired labourers; a very small
number make good Uvmgs in business or in some other
independent calling. The economic condition of the
colonies leaves much to be desired, but it is incom-
parably superior to that of the towns.
284
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
EXTRACTION, INCREASE AND LOCAL DISTRIBUTION
OF THE JEWISH POPULATION IN PALESTINE.
Sephardim.
Old
Aschkenas.
Immigrant
Section.
Young
Aschkenas.
Immigrant
Section.
Immigrants
from Asia
and Africa.
H
No. in year 1880, -
20,000
15,000
_
35*000
Decade \ Natural Increase,
-
2,000
1,000
—
—
3,000
1881-1890 j By Immigration,
-
—
5,000
3,000
1,500
9,500
Decade \ Natural Increase,
-
2,000
1,000
1,000
200
4,200
1891-1900 J By Immigration,
-
—
4,000
7,000
2,000
13,000
Decade \ Natural Increase,
-
2,000
1,000
2,000
300
5,300
1901-1901 J By Immigration,
*
—
4,000
lOjOOOj
2,000
16,000
Nos. in the year 1910, -
-
p\
b
0
0
31,000
23,000
6,000
00
b
0
0
Of these there lived
in Jerusalem, -
15,000
20,000
10,000
5,000
50,000
3 »ooo
—
4,500
500
8,000
, , Safed, — -
3*000
0
0
0
—
—
10,000
„ Tiberias,
2,500
3*500
—
—
6,000
„ Haifa,
2,000
1,000
......
3,000
„ Hebron,
500
1,000
„ Colonies,
—
—
7»500
500
8,000
Total,
-
26,000
3'E,ooo
23,000
b
0
0
86,000
The economic work of the Zionists in Palestine is
connected with the colonisation activities of Baron
de Rothschild and has led to the foundation of some
new colonies. The philanthropic idea here falls into
the background ; the aim is to attract a Jewish agri-
cultural population on to Palestinian soil. Zionism
does not go in for philanthropic colonisation, and could
not, even if it would, seeing the enormous sums entailed
by such colonisation. It therefore confines itself at
present to assisting and fadhtating the development of
suitable general conditions; by establishing infor-
mation bureaux and societies for the foundation or
ZIONISM
285
furtherance of plantations and land partition ; by
forming corporate societies and by lendhig credit from
its own bank. It has likewise taken in hand the
afforestation of land, the introduction of wholesale
trade in coimection with agriculture ; it has attempted
to introduce new methods of agriculture and to en-
courage home industries, arts and crafts, etc. The
success that attends their efforts is already noticeable,
but the future alone will show the full result. The
economic weakness of the Jews in Palestine cannot
be removed in a single day ; it arises from the fact
that, Palestine being an agricultural country, the
economic strength belongs naturally to those who own
the soil.
The area of Palestine is 30,000 qkm., and only 500
qkm., i.e. less than 2 per cent., is in Jewish hands, or
counting only the arable land {i.e. excluding mountains,
lakes and marshes), perhaps 3 per cent, to 4 per cent.
With a Jewish population of about 14.3 per cent, of
the total population, it will be seen that the Jews possess
far less land than their numbers would demand. The
only way they can become economically stronger is for
them to acquire more land, and participate more
largely in agricultural pursuits.'
D. Zionism and the Turkish Government.
Zionism has undergone a certain transformation
since its first congress. At the beginning the all-
important question had been how to obtain from the
Turkish Government a binding agreement, by means
of an irrevocable act of state — ^a charter — ^for the settle-
ment of the Jewish masses in colonisation in Palestine.
The question of the possibility of such a settlement,
even with the acquiescence of the Turkish Gk)vemment,
286
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
was set aside. It was not until the diplomatic negotia-
tions with the Turkish Government fell through that
it began to be questioned whether the charter was
really essential to Zionism — a question which was
finally answered in the negative. As a matter of fact,
the acquisition of a charter would be both fruitless and
useless. Fruitless, because no civilised government
can grant persons belonging to other states and living
in other countries special rights and privileges in a
country which is inhabited by its own subjects. Use-
less, because the moment the Turkish Government
wished to alter its policy towards the new Jewish
settlement, the charter would become a worthless
piece of paper (compare paragraph 44 of the Berlin
Treaty and the behaviour of the Roumanian Govern-
ment) ; useless, moreover, because the legal security
which the charter was to obtain for Jewish work in
Palestine will be gained step by step by the work of
colonisation, and does not need to precede it.
In spite of all this, however, it was right that Zionism
should have started out with the idea of the charter.
Without it, it would not have succeeded so easily in
gaining the support of the Jewish masses. The chsirter
idea gave to the movement the breadth which had been
wanting in the previoiis efforts of the Chovevi Zion.
But the charter idea has already fulfilled its mission
and will have to submit to the fate of the idea of
" the association of means of production ” in the
Socialist movement. “ To us, the end is nothing, the
movement everything ” — ^these words of Edward Bern-
stein, spoken of the changed conditions of social demo-
cracy, may be equally well applied to Zionism.
In addition to the value of the charter idea for Zionist
propaganda, it must be agreed that the recognition of
ZIONISM
287
the necessity of an understanding with Turkey —
though too much insisted upon, to the exclusion of
other things — ^was absolutely justifiable. Colonisation
on a large scale within the Turkish Empire can only
prosper when it enjo3rs the goodwill of the Turkish
Government. It will not suffice to rely upon existing
Tinrkish law and on the validity of local transactions ;
the administrative support of the central government
and its local appurtenances must be added to ensure
success for the work of colonisation. Zionism will,
therefore, always be concerned to convince the Turkish
Government of the usefulness of its work and of its
peaceful intentions. In so far, Zionism must always
bear a quasi-political character, but its efforts will be
directed not towards obtaining a shadowy charter, but
towards obtaining conditions necessary to the practical
work of colonisation.
The question is whether it will be possible to gain the
confidence and goodwill of the Turkish Government
towards the Jewish colonisation of Palestine, which
would naturally be attended by a large Jewish immi-
gration. The Turkish Government, which has diffi-
culties enough in dealing with the national aspirations
of the various nationalities composing its empire, would
at first sight hardly welcome a national increase of
strength in the Jews, hitherto the weakest and most
submissive nationality of the empire, from whom they
Doight in future have to expect daims for the recognition
of their national individuality, similar to those of other
nationalities. Perhaps, also, deceived by the charter
idea, and by many other misleading stateipents of the
Zionists, they may fear that the Jews demand political
independence, or that they might make themselves
politically a nuisance.
288
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
It appears that from one or all of these causes the
government looks askance at Zionism ; but it is pro-
bable that sooner or later they will change their attitude,
since their fears can all be proved to be groundless. It
is certain that those Jews who go to Palestine under
the influence of Zionism wish to form a nationality and
to develop their own individuality, and especially their
own language. But this does no harm to a state which
already includes so many nationalities ^ and which, in
spite of some efforts at uniformity, must ever remain
a conglomerate empire. The fear of a Jewish occupa-
tion of Palestine and of their wresting it away from the
Turks is absurd, having regard to the relative strengths
of Turkey and the Jews. Why should some hundred
thousand, or even some million Jews — and the millions
do not come in a hurry — ^present a greater danger as a
nationality, than the Arabs, who are far more numerous
and far more powerful in view of their long connection
with the soil and their ingrained national language, but
against whom the Turks raise no objections.
The Zionist congresses have repeatedly declared that
the integrity of Turkey would in no way be impaired
by Zionist endeavour, and, indeed, it is in the interest
of the Jews in Palestine to belong to a state which could
protect them from sanguinary fights and skirmishes
with the stronger neighbouring nationalities, and with
which a young independent nation would be certain
to be assailed.
While Jewish immigration to Turkey would entail
^ The Jews of Turkey are already ofiicially a recognised nation,
millet/' The Turkish word ” millet means religious community,
as well as nationality. The question whether the Jews are a nation-
ality or not cannot arise in Turkey, a religious community being
there, ipso facto, a nationality.
ZIONISM
289
no political danger, it would, on the other hand, most
undoubtedly represent an economic and cultural asset.
The Jews would not come to Palestine empty-handed ;
their coming would bring an influx of capable men and
capital. They would transplant their commercial and
scientific knowledge, their enthusiasm for art and litera-
ture, to Palestine. The Jews are already pioneers in
Palestine ; it is they who are responsible for the first
signs of expanding trade and industrial enterprise, for
the introduction of new branches of manufacture, for
the foundation of co-operative societies ; it is they who
have brought arboriculture — ^notably the cultivation
of vineyards and oranges — ^to their present importance
of being the typical produce of Palestine ; they have
introduced the eucalyptus tree into Palestine, and
thereby rendered originally marshy districts habitable ;
their colonies, schools, doctors, apothecaries, hospitals
and in some towns their suburbs, are on a much higher
level than those of the native population. It is through
the Jews that the customs receipts show such a large
increase ; they have European needs and have popu-
larised the means to satisfy them.
The Jews might in a relatively short time turn Pales-
tine into the model country for all Asiatic Turkey ;
they could hasten on the economic and cultural develop-
ment of the coimtry. It is difficult to believe that
without some vety good reason, the Turks would cut
ofl this possibility, and refuse all this wealth of capacity
and capital, the increase in their customs returns, and
the advancement of culture which is here ofiered them.
Constitutional Turkey undoubtedly desires economic
advancement. But at every step this is hindered by the
lack of scientific and technically skilled men and capiM.
She is bomd to do as they do in Russia and the Balkan
290
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
States — call to her aid men and capital from more
highly cultured lands ; and this is always attended by
the .unpleasant consequence of giving the European
state the opportunity of enlarging its sphere of influence
in Turkey. Turkey can only escape from this dilemiria
by calling to her aid Jewish engineers and Jewish
capital. Any other European settlers will always
remain ahecrto Turkey, and enjoy special privileges
which are irksome to the Turkish Government ; immi-
grant Jews, on the contrary, would be ready to ex-
change their European citizenship which begets for
them persecution and oppression, for the pri-^ege of
becoming a Turkish subject and of becoming naturalised
in Turkey.
Only a small portion of Jewish immigrants to Pales-
tine have hitherto become Ottoman subjects, but this
is because most of the immigrants have been elderly
people. The young immigrants, especially the in-
habitants of the colonies, have most of them become
so, as soon as they are certain of a career in Palestine,
i.e. certain that the government will grant them the
same social and national rights as they grant other
nationalities of the empire.
E. Relations with the non- Jewish population of Palestine.
Assuming that the Turkish Government recognises
the advantages of Jewish immigration, and favours it,
there remains to be overcome the difficulty of the pre-
sent non-Jewish population of Palestine, numbering over
500,000 souls. It is clear that these will not leave the
coimtry to make room for the Jews. This even the
Zionists would not desire. Zionism does not wish to
have Palestine exclusively for the Jesws ; it only seeks
to create, by a steady immigration, a large, coherent,
ZIONISM
391
united population of Jews which will be protected from
the dangers of assimilation. And the badcward state
of culture of the native population nullifies the danger
at the outset. The question is, in what spirit the
native non-Jewish population will view an increased
Jewish immigration. Will it lead to serious conflict ?
Hitherto the Arabs have not shown themselves unsjun-
pathetic to Jewish immigration, as this immigration
has brought them very material economic advantages,
opportunities of work at a higher wage, custom for
their agricultural products, rise in land values, etc.
But the time may come when the Jews, by introducing
into Palestine large industries and modem agricultural
methods, may become, not merely buyers and con-
sumers, but very dangerous rivals. It may well be that
they will buy up the land at prices higher than the
primitive Arab fellah can afford, and thus deprive the
Arab farmer of the chance of extending his property.
At present the danger of this is not imminent, as hardly
one-half of the land is cultivated — ^the half which lends
itself to com-growing — ^while the other half, much of
which is suitable for arboriculture, is almost wholly
uncultivated, the Arab feUaheen being deficient in the
capital and knowledge needed for plantation growing.
In the vicinity of the towns, however, a few rich Arabs
have started fruit-growing. So long as Jewish colonisa-
tion is confined to this, the Arabs are not likdy to
oppose their acquisition of the land, having themselves
no use for it. But when it comes to com-growing, the
increasing immigration of the Jews is likely to cause
friction. This might be mitigated somewhat if the
Arabs are clever enough to imitate the superior agri-
cultural methods of the Jews. They would then
have nothing to fear from the competition of Jewish
292
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
producers, while the change from ea;tensive to wten-
sive agriculture would necessitate their using only a
fraction of their present agricultural area. In this
way the needs of the Jewish cereal grower could be
satisfied, and need not necessarily cause the Arab to be
expatriated.
If this economic difficulty could be satisfactorily
overcome, there is not much to fear from the national
jealousy of the Arabs. There is a certain affinity be-
tween the Arab and the Jew as there is between the
Arabic and the Hebrew languages. It is highly pro-
bable that the two would live happily and amicably
together even if the Jews were to come in great
numbers. One must, however, always be prepared for
surprises, and the Christian Arabs in particular, some
100,000 persons, in contrast to the Mohammedan Arabs,
bitterly oppose the Jewish immigration. This arises
from the fact that the Christian Arabs reside mostly
in the towns, where they are more nearly affected by
the competition of the new Jewish immigration in trade
and handicraft. Furthermore, being in possession of
large latifundia, they view with alarm the increasing
economic strength of the feUaheen (peasants), acquired
by working at a higher wage in the Jewish colonies, and
by their adoption of improved agricultural methods.
The Christian Arabs are, therefore, also forced to pay
higher wages, and are consequently prevented from
adding to their funds. Besides this, there is the re-
ligious opposition, rendered doubly bitter by the
presence of so many clerics and missionaries in Pales-
tine. It may be, too, that they fear that a large Jewish
population might desecrate their holy places, and
impede the stream of visitom, on whom the Christian
Arabs chiefly live. It need hardly be said that
ZIONISM
293
these holy places would remain unimpaired whether
the majority of the population in Palestine were
Mohammedan or Jewish. They have long been, if not
de jure, at least de facto, extra-territorial, and will remain
so in the future.
F. Economic 'possibilities for Jewish immigrants in
Palestine.
The great obstacle which stands in the way of the
segregation of the Jews in Palestine is economic—
the lack of economic attraction to Palestine. The
Jews of Eastern Europe live in miserable poverty and
seek to emigrate ; but their destination is not Palestine,
but America. In America, a great industrial counti^,
the Jew, either with or without means, can earn a Hving
in whatever calling he had in his old home. In
Palestine, an agricultural country, he can earn a living
only by changing his occupation and turning to agri-
culture. This is not so easy. Leroy-Beauheu even
says that it is impossible for a townsman ever to become
a farmer. We need not go so far as that, but it is
undeniable that Ihe metamorphosis makes great de-
mands on a man, and very often fails. As we have
said before, the only possible chance of success for a Jew
with means is to take part in a thriving fruit-growing
concern, and thus pave the way to agriculture for his
children. To be attracted to agriculture the yoimg
Jew without means must see in it prospects of a share
in profits, of co-operative societies, of easy credit, so
that the position of a hired labourer may lead eventually
to independence.
It would be a far easier task to settle Oriental Jews
(Jews from Yemen, Morocco, Aleppo and the Caucasus)
in agricultural colonies. These are already drifting
294
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
towards Palestine. But the spiritual and intellectual
status of these Jews is so low that an immigration en
masse would lower the general cultural standard of the
Jews in Palestine and would be bad from several points
of view. In small numbers, however, they might be
extremely useful, with their knowledge of Oriental
conditions, their small needs, and, in particular,
their capacity of competing in wages with the Arab
agricultural labourer. The East European Jew cannot
possibly live on such wages. He can earn a living
in Palestine only by work which makes demands on
his intelligence and reliability. For purely manual
labour preference is naturally given to the Arab,
who is the cheaper workman. This breach in the
Jewish economic system can be bridged by the Oriental
Jew, who can do the rough work at the same price as
the Arab.
Compared with agriculture, the industries, trade and
conunerce of Palestine are of Uttle importance. The
land has neither iron nor coal, neither good harbours
nor navigable rivers, and it is far from the centres of
communication. Great industries are not possible ;
even the far more favourably situated Balkan provinces,
with all their mineral wealth and with state aid, can
hardly keep up with the competition of the great manu-
facturing countries. The only industries with any
prospects of success are those coimected with the pro-
ducts of local agriculture (cereals, fruit, vegetables,
oil, wool), or with the production of such articles as do
not lend themselves to transportation from foreign
countries to Palestine. Home industries, especially
arts and crafts, are growing in importance ; wages
are low, and Oriental wares (carpets, laces, metal and
woodwork) always find a ready market in Europe and
ZIONISM
295
America.! Q^g whole town (Bethlehem) subsists on
the manufacture of mother-of-pearl articles, sold as
relics in America ; and in Damascus, tens of thousands
find emplo3Tnent in metal and woodwork. With
the growth of these industries, it may be that
Palestine will extend its trade. So far it is limited
to the importation of European manufactured articles
and food-stuffs, and the export of agricultural pro-
ducts which, with the exception of oranges, barley
and olive oil, are neither considerable nor profitable.
Though industry and trade play at present so in-
significant a part, it is possible that they may increase
in importance in the near future. The position of
Palestine, in its relation to the trade of the world, will
be greatly improved when Jaffa and Haifa have built
their projected harbours, and when the railway in Asia
Minor (now in the process of construction) is continued,
as planned, through Palestine to Port Said, thus bring-
ing Palestine into direct connection with the European
and African railway systems. The Meccan railway
will be of the greatest importance to Palestine ; it will
open up to communication the fertile and hitherto
t h i n ly populated land east of the Jordan. The m i n eral
wealth of the Dead Sea, the irrigation value of the
rivers, the fertility of the Jordan valley, with its sub-
tropical climate, the many medicinal springs, the
wonderful winter climate which could make Palestine
a rival of Egypt — ^all these await devdopment and
exploitation. They cannot be devdoped in a day or a
1 Home industries, in the form of arts and crafts, designed for
export trade, have a great advantage over all other industries. They
allo'v^ the 'workman a certain independence, and encourage indi'vid'ual
talent. They do not in any ■way lead to assimila'tion, business
between the workman and the non-Jewish buyer being effected
through a middleman.
296 THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
night, but they vnll follow gradually on the general
development of trade and communication in Palestine
and Syria.
It is often urged that Palestine is much too small to
hold all the Jews. Palestine covers an area of about
29,000 qkm. and has a population of 600,000, i.e.
about 35 to the square mile. With intensive cultivation
— ^to which the land is peculiarly adapted, and which
must have prevailed 2,000 years ago — there is not the
slightest doubt that it could maintain a population
of 100 and more to the square mile. In other words,
that it could hold over two million Jews. The number
of Jews in the world, however, is not two, but twelve
millions. A gathering together of all these Jews in
Palestine is not to be contemplated for a moment. But
it is absolutely wrong to suppose that Zionism seeks to
solve the Jewish question in the sense of bringing about
at one stroke a revolution 'in the abnormal condition
of the Jews aH over the world. Zionism is a cure for
the moral distress of Judaism rather than for the
economic misery of the Jews ; at present it can only
create in Palestine the kernel of a nation, a refuge for
those Jews who wish to escape from assimilation. It
was only a small remnant of Jews who were able to
withstand assimilation at the time of the Babylonian
exile. It will only be a small remnant to-day. The
great majority of Jews will not go out to Palestine,
and with the present scanty prospects of earning a
livelihood there, it is undesirable that they shoid.
Nevertheless, Zionism is of importance for them also.
The Zionist movement has already stirred the Jewish
consciousness of many a 'Westem Jew. How much
more would this be the case if Zionism should succeed
in creating a new Jewish life in Palestine? "When
ZIONISM
297
conversion and intermarriage are constantly on the
increase, when the number of Jews decreases from one
census to the next, when the son hurries to the font
and despises the Judaism of his father, it must become
dear even to the most short-sighted that religion alone
is not strong enough to save the Jews in the Diaspora
from extinction. If then there come from Palestine
reports of a new Jewish life growing up there ; of
Jewish farmers living on the produce of their fields ;
of the land, forgotten for eighteen centuries, being
again made beautiful by the labour of Jewish hands ;
of a young generation growing up in Jewish schools,
proud of their Judaism ; of the Hebrew language once
more a living tongue ; of Jewish colleges where Jewish
professors teach modem sdence and scholarship in all
branches ; of scientific discoveries ; of a re-birth of
poetry and music — ^the ancient heritage of Israel —
then, indeed, Zionism, by being able to point to con-
crete facts, must command the sympathy and support
of those Jews who would never have been won over by
theoretical propaganda.^
The term “ Cultural Zionism ” must not lead us into
1 The same thing applies to the relation of Zionism to the Jewish
organisations in Western Europe and America. So long as these
work in the direction of securing complete equality for the Jews in
the countries in which they are settled, in the fond hope that they
will still be able to continue their separate existence, they will see
in Zionism a disturbing element. Their attitude to Zionism will
change only when they see for themselves whither their policy of
elimination of all national differences and their efforts at social
equality are leading the Jews — ^when the ever-increasing number
of mixed marriages and conversions convince them that they are
making for the downfall instead of the uplifting of Judaism. They
will then recognise in the Jewish settlement in Palestine a certain
guarantee for the future in the event of their own efforts proving
futile.
298
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
the error of thinking that Zionism in Palestine means
the immediate and exclusive creation of a cultural
centre. Such a conception would be utterly false,
because a living Jewish culture in Palestine can only
grow on the foundations of a large Jewish population
and a healthy social system. One might possibly main-
tain a few scholars and educational and artistic institu-
tions for a certain time on monetary support received
from abroad, but a real national culture must be the
natural outcome of a healthy national life. Whosoever
desires to create a Jewish culture in Palestine must first
bring thither Jews who are already provided with the
means of existence.
Gontrary to the general impression, that Palestine is
too small for the segregation of the Jews, it might be
affirmed with more truth that for the present purposes
of Zionism it offers too large a field for colonisation.
Not reckoning the Jews supported by Chalukah, who
have gone out to Palestine from religious motives, the
Jewish population has increased only by 30,000 souls
dirring the last thirty years, though Baron de Roths-
child’s colonising activity feU 'within that period. The
increase was thus at the rate of about 1,000 a year. It
is possible that now that the first difficulties have been
overcome, immigration may increase or be carried on
on a larger scale, but we must not be too sanguine.
Every immigrant must be assured of a livelihood
beforehand, and the creation of so many livelihoods
in an essentially agricultural land is a slow process.
If, instead of an annual increase of 1,000 we calculate
on 3,000, 5,000, or even 10,000 annually during the next
thirty years, we have probably taken the maximum
estimate. In any case there can be no question of any
overcrowding in Palestine resulting from immigration.
ZIONISM
299
' And in fact the local segregation of the Jews can only
be accomplished within certain restricted areas of
Palestine. The towns, all of which have large Jewish
populations, have been hitherto the natural centres.
By the foundation of numerous Jewish agricultural
colonies in the neighbourhood of these towns, we
should obtain the basis of a comprehensive social life in
which Jews would participate not only in the production
of the raw material, but in its manufacture, and finally
in the exchange of commodities. The economic area
would comprise a group of villages centred round a
town which would serve as the market, the small
centres would be brought into communciation one with
the other, and would co-operate whenever possible,
and each be a reflection of one and the same culture.
There remains the question of the Jews themsdves.
Flocking to Palestine as they would from the .most
diverse countries, speaking diSerent languages, lacking
the local character which belongs to all other nations by
right of connection with the soil, how will they be able
to live together in Palestine in peace and harmony ?
Is it not hkdy that the quarrels and religious contentions
with which the Jews in Palestine were tom 2,000 years
ago wiU break out afresh when the Jews are once more
assembled together from all ends of the earth ? There
are some grounds for this fear. If the Jews were left
to themselves bad results might be expected, especially
in the first generation before the feeling of strangeness
between the difierent sections had been overcome.
But under the Turkish Government the dissaisions,
even it they break out, will not lead to any oprai show
of hostility. It may be hoped, too, that by the usage
of a common language, Hebrew, by sharing in the same
work and following the same destiny, they will draw
300
THE JEWS OF TO-DAY
nearer to one another, and that discord, if it cannot be
averted altogether, may make itself heard less per-
sistently. As far as we can judge by the present con-
dition of the new immigrant Jewish population of
Palestine, there is no lack of friction and of schisms,
-but the national feeling is strong enough to bridge over
all dissensions. Even the rehgious antagonism between
the “ Frommen ” (orthodox) and the “ Unfrommen ”
(unorthodox), which is so pronounced in Europe, has
lost its bitterness in Palestine, and is giving place to a
broad tolerance. Each sees that the other is also
working for Judaism and wishes to remain Jewish, and
this does away with the bitter feeling caused by non-
observance in Europe, where it is simply the first step
to a renunciation of Judaism.
G. The prospects of Zionism.
The difficulties in the way of a local segregation of
Jews in Palestine are great or small according to
different points of view : they are not insuperable.
The Jews who consider the Zionistic aim impracticable
or Utopian are more short-sighted than those Zionists
who tlfink the aim already accomplished when a new
colony is founded somewhere in Palestine. The truth
is that the aim of Zionism — the formation of a coherent
Jewish population in Palestine with agriculUire as its
economic basis and Hebrew as the national language — is
difficult indeed, hut possible. The difficulties must not
deter us. The re-building of a nation requires the
utmost effort, and the bringing into play of all the
latent strength of the Jewish people. But the end is.
worthy of the effort. F or Zionism is not a mere nationed
or chauvinistic caprice, but the last desperate stand of ^
Jews against annihilation. Should the denationah^ng
INDEX
Administration, system of, 251.
Agricultural Colonies, 243 et seq.
Agricultural Schools, 254, 256.
Agriculture, 49, 58, 241 et seq,
kyAlCoEol, 77, 225.
Aleppo, 283.
Alexandria, 31, 109, 181,
Algiers, 69, 70.
Alliance Israelite Universelle, 37,
122, 128, 263, 277, 280, 282.
Alsace-Lorraine, 128, 152.
America, 4, 37, 38, 201, 293.
American race, 229.
Amsterdam, 69, 72, 160, 169,
224, 225.
Amulets, 5, 146.
Andr^e, Richard, 213.
Anthropology, 158, 195.
Anthropomorphism, 149.
Anti-Semitism, 102, 158, 185,
194, 197
Antokolski, 220.
Anussim, 3^.
Arabic culture, 16, 17, no, 229.
Arabic language, 262, 263, 292.
Arabs, 263, 288, 291.
Aramaic, 16, 109, 112.
Arboriculture, 253, 289, 291
Architecture, 220.
Argentine, 247-249.
Armenians, 50, 140, 214, 219.
Art, 220, 265.
Arts and crafts, 294.
Ashkenazim, n, 160, 217, 264,
281-284.
Asia Minor, 214. 254, 270.
Assimilation, 3, 14, 20, 24, 27,
28, 44, 93, 98, 134, 155, 204,
213, 228, 234, 237, 241, 265,
275 -
Australia, 161, 189. <
Austria, 70, 81, 82, 86, 87, 102,
125, 131, 132, 162, 166, 170,
184, 186, 202, 221, 242, 267,
268, 278, 279, 280.
Auto-emancipation, 277.
Autonomy, 17, 268.
Baale Emunoth, 147.
Babylon, 16, 20, 26, 30, 44, 49,
272.
Baden, Grand Duchy of, 54, 152.
Badge, 19.
Bankers, 61, 225.
Basle programme, 278.
Bauer, Bnmo, 9, 143.
Bavaria, 69, 102, 152, 160, 164,
172, 173-
Beloch, 31.
Belz, 140.
Beni Israel, 35.
Berlin, 9, 10, 14, 53, 69, 73, 74,
77, 97, 102, 125, 152, 166. 163,
170, 179, 183, 185, 189, 190.
Berlin, Treaty of, 199, 286.
Bernstein, Ed., 286.
Beth Hamidrash, 143.
Birth-rate, Decline in, 3, 69 et seq,
Bohemia, 70, 115, 167, 170.
Bourgeoisie, Jewish, 13, 194.
304
INDEX
Brazil, 249.
Bremen, 165.
Breslau, 69, 72, 76, 81, 174.
British Museum, 150.
Brody, 103.
Bucharest, 69, 70, 75, 169.
Budapest, 69, 78, 80, 168, 170,
191.
Bukovina, 70, 1x5, 124, 170, 185,
243, 268.
Bulgaria, 69, 100, 102.
Business capacity, 48, 49, 215.
Buzek, Dr., 96.
Cabbala, '5, 147.
Canada, 91, 92, 247.
Capital crimes, 225.
Capitalism, 27, 49. 156, 205.
Capital towns, 103.
Card-playing, 63.
Castile, 32.
Catholic Church, 22.
Catholics, 160, 164, 170.
Cattle-rearing, 248, 249.
Caucasus, 283.
Cereal-growing, 249, 253, 257,
292, 294.
Ceremonial religion, 149, 154.
'Ceremonies, 8, 140, 141, 155, 237,
Chalukah, 263, 276, 283.
Chamberlain, Houston Stewart,
138, 142, 201.
Charlottenburg, 70, 164.
Charter, 285, 286.
Chasdai Ibn Schaprut, 275.
Chassidim, 144, 145, 146.
Chassidism, 146, 147.
Chazars, 36, 157, 182, 275.
Cheder, ii, 121-124, 134, 151.
Cherson, 244, 245.
Chess, gift for, 50, 216.
China, 28.
Chinese, 50, 201, 203, 233,
Chosen people, 141.
Chovevi Zion, 277, 286.
Christianity, 9, 31, 32, 177, 182-
184, 194.
Chuetas, 34.
Circumcision, 16.
Civil marriage, 159, 160, 167.
Colonies, 268.
Jewish, 244-255, 297, 299.
Colonisation, national, 257, 264.
Philanthropic, 255, 284.
Societies, 251, 255, 283.
Colonists, 257, 258.
Commerce, 6, 49, 61, loi, 267.
Confession, persons of no, r66,
190.
Conservative party, 198.
Conversion, 3, 19, 24, 31, 99,
181 et seg., 206.
Copenhagen, 55, 73, t6r, 173,
178.
Cosmopolitanism, 217.
Costume, 7, 12, 22, 147, 148.
Criminality, 220, 221-225.
Criminal statistics, 222.
Cultivation, intensive, 296.
Culture, definition of, 230.
Jewish, 231 et seg,, 265*267,
298.
National, 219.
D
Baggatuns, 35, 36.
Dairy work, 247, 248, 254.
Damascus, 295.
Darmstadt, 71.
Dead Sea, 295.
Deceit, propensity to, 221.
Decline in birth-rate, see Birth-
rate.
Decrease in number of Jews, 83,
84.
Denationalisation, 10, 13, 129,
135, 211, 228, 300.
Denniark, 161, 178.
Density of Jewish population,
38 et seg., 100 et seg.
Dependents, non-wage-earning,
64.
Deuteronomy, 138.
Diamond industry, 63, 64, 225.
Dietary laws, 139, X52, X55.
INDEX
305
Disintegration, process of, 3, 10,
195-
Disraeli, Benjamin, 216, 233.
Dissenters, 99, 176, 191, 194.
Domestics, 55.
Donmes, 34.
Dresden, 93, 190.
Dreyfus, Affaire, 200.
Dnhring, Engen, 171.
Eastern Europe, 3, 27, 66, 83,
85, 21 1, 237, 253, 254, 261,
266, 267, 268.
Edison, 216.
Education, craving for, 119.
Of young, 235, 236.
Of girls, 122, 123, 128.
Egypt, 16, 26, 28, 30, 49, 141.
Eliot, George, 277.
Elk, Julius, 244.
Elkind, 213.
Emancipation, 4, 5.
Emden, 5.
Emigration, 4, 67, 85 e/ seq.
Emporiums, 51, 205.
England, 90, loi, 112, 128, 162,
188, 201.
English, 1 12, 263.
Enlightenment, Jewish, 142, 149,
155, 232.
Environment, 231, 238.
Ethics, 220, 232,
Eucalyptus plantation, 289.
European culture, 233 ei seq.
Evolution, 235.
Excess of births, 82.
Eybenschiitz, 5.
Ezra, 20, 24, 138, 141, 142, 149,
155* 157*
Falaschas, 35.
Family life, 77.
Farmers, Jewish, 247, 250, 252,
254. 293-
Fellahs, 293:.
Fishberg, Maurice, 213.
France, 159, 178, 200.
Frankfurt-a-M., 32, 54, 77, 152,
160.
French, 263, 282-
Fruit-growing, 253, 254, 257,
293-
Galicia, 33, 43, 57, 65, 66, 88,
96, 103, 1 12, 113, 122, 123,
129, 135, 145, 148, 167, 185,
201, 242, 243, 268, 278.
Galilee, 249.
Gaon, 18.
Genius, 215, 265.
Gerim, 35.
German (language), 111-116, 260.
Germany, 51, 92, 96, loi, 152,
159. 163, 183, 187, 198, 2or,
219, 221, 226, 242, 279.
Ghetto, 4, 19, 23, 94, III, 150,
202, 204, 231, 234, 242.
Ghetto-culture, 237.
Ghetto- Judaism, 10.
Girls, education of, 122, 123,
128.
Goldmark, 219.
Goldsmith (trade of), 64.
Graetz, 32, 122, 137.
Greece, 28.
Greek Church, 184, 185.
Greek culture, 16, 230.
Greek language, 16, 109, 112.
Greeks, 50, 230.
Guilds, 25, 27, 48.
Gutmacher, Elias, 276.
Gypsies, 25.
H
Halberstadt, 152.
Halevi, Jehudah, 275.
Half-Jewish blood, 177, 179.
Halpem, Georg, 57.
Hamburg, ii, 152, 164, 165.
Handicraft, 60, 61, 63.
Schools, 122.
Hamack, 31.
Hartfnann, Eduard von, 171.
V
INDEX
306
Hebrew, ii, 16, 109, no, 114,
122, 259 297 -
Hebron, 276, 282, 284.
Heine, Heinrich, 219, 234.
Hellenism, 16, 18.
Hertz, 216, 234.
Herzl, Theodor, 278.
Hess, Moses, 277.
Hessen, Grand Duchy of, 78, 97.
Higher Criticism, 155.
High schools, 125.
HiUel, 141.
Hirsch, Baron de, 247.
Hirsch Schools, 122, 128.
Holiness, 138.
Holland, 169, 173, 188, 221.
Home industries, 62, 294, 295.
Home, love of, 250, 252.
Horticulture, 246, 253.
Hungary, 43, 71, 102, 126, 132,
159, 168, 170, 173, 177, 186,
221, 243.
Ideals, culture of, 230-232.
Idumaeans, 1S2.
Illegitimate children, 77, 78, 179.
Illiterates, 120.
Immortality, belief in, 137.
Income tax, 53.
Indians, 52.
Industry, 62, 66-68, 221.
Industrialisation, 68, 267.
Infant mortality, 77-80.
Inland migrations, 67, 95.
Instruction, language of, 260,
263.
Religious, 121, 129, 151.
Intellectual gifts, 50, 215, 217,
226.
Intensive cultivation, 296.
Intermarriage, 3, 19, 138, 157 et
seq,, 171, 188, 189, 195, 202.
Children of, 171-180, 203,
227.
Irreligion, 98.
Islam, 18, 31, no, 141, 182.
Isolated culture, 234.
Isolation, Jewish, 20, 136, 140,
156, 204.
Israels, Jcsef, 220, 234.
Isserles, Moses, 144.
Italy, 32, 55, g6, 102, 162,
Jacobs, Joseph, 52.
Jacobson school in Seesen, 128.
Jahrzeit, 144.
Jakobowski, Ludwig, 280.
Japanese, 234.
Jargon, 4, 7, ir, 22, no et seq.,
Jehudah Halevi, 275.
Jerusalem, 30, 103, 276, 282,
284.
Jewish Agricultural and Indus-
trial Aid Society, 247.
Jewish Colonisation Association,
123, 245-249, 25r.
Jewish culture, 231 et seq., 265,
267.
Jewish schools, 121, 258.
Jewish tradition, 117, 134, 236.
Jewish type, 171.
Joachim, 219.
Jordan valley, 295.
Journalism, 103, 225.
Judaism, Liberal, 13, 150 et seq.
Orthodox, n, 14, 121, 122,
139, 143, 147, 149, 151,
152, 155, 156.
Reform, n, 16, 94, 153.
Jurisprudence, 130, 131, 132.
Jurists, 215.
Jussuf, King in Yemen, X82.
K
Kaddish, X44.
Kaftan, 148.
Kalicz, 35.
Kalischer, Zevi Hirsch, 276.
Kant, 6.
Karaites, 17, 35, 159,
Kieff, 124.
Koheleth, 137.
Kohler, Joseph, 215.
INDEX
307
Landed interest, 200.
Landowners, 243.
" Landtaflig ” property, 243.
Language, change of, 109-118.
National, 263.
Large towns, 13, 15, 74, 98 et
seq,, 188.
Lassale, 216.
Leipzig, 92.
Leroy-Beaulieu, 20, 65, 150, 293.
Lessees, Lessors, 58, 243.
Levant, 263,
Liberal Judaism, 13, 150 et
seq.
Lieberman, 219..
Lilienthal, 216.
Literature, language of, 259, 260.
Neo-Hebrew, 261.
Lombroso, 221.
Luzzatti, 216.
Luzzatto, Samuel David, 18.
M
Magyars, 201.
Maimins, 35.
Maimonides, 18.
Manchus, 21.
Manufactures, 62, 100, 246.
Marranos, 34.
Marriage, ci^^, 159, 160, 167.
Marx, 204, 261, 233.
Materialism, 7, 15 1.
Mecca railway, 295.
Medicine, 129, 130, 131, 132.
Melamed, 120, 121, 151.
Melanochroi, 213.
Mendelssohn, Moses, 5, 6, 8, 14, 17.
Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, 219.
Mesopotamia, 269, 270.
Messiah, belief in, 137, 276.
Mesusa, 139, 147. >
Meyerbeer, 219.
Middle Ages, 19, 22, 25, 27, 28,
32, 48, 49, 50, 119, 121, 141,
157, 202, 217, 242.
Middlemen, 237.
Millet, 288.
Mission of the Jews, 154.
Missionary Societies, 192.
Mittelhochdeutsch, in, 260.
Mneme-Theory, 218.
Mohammedan, 17, 35, 149, 15^
159, 292-293.
Mommsen, 31.
Money-lending, 6, 25, 47, 237-
Monism, 236.
Monotheism, 137, 139, 152, 1S2.
Moravia, 33, 115, 278.
Morocco, II, 43, 293.
Mortality, 76, 78-80.
Infant, 77-80.
Mother-tongue, 259-264.
Munich, 93, 152,
Mutazilites, 18.
Mysticism, 146, 147.
N
Nablous, 141.
Names, 187, 188.
National autonomy, 268.
National colonisation, 257, 264.
National language, 263.
Nationality, 201, 212, 263, 287,
288.
Naturalisation, 200, 290.
Nehemiah, 20, 24, 138, 216.
Neo-Hebrew literature, 261.
Netherlands, 221.
New South Wales, 58, 178.
New York, 40, 93, 103, 104.
Nordau, Max, 57, 280.
North Americans, 51.
O
Odessa, 57-
Oettinger, 246.
Offenbach, 219.
Oppenheimer, Franz, 255.
Orange plantations, 249.
Organ, ii, 149, i53* .
Ortibodox Judaism, fi, 14, 121-
122, I39> 143, 147*
152, 155, I5<5.
Ostracism, 199, 202.
Overcrowding, 67, 105.
3o8
INDEX
Pale of Settlement, 42, 43, 56,
67» 95> 96, 102, 112, 123.
Palestine, 30, 31, 42, 49, 103,
138, 160, 249, 253-255, 261-
264, 270-272, 275 5 tf. 7 .
Trade in, 294, 295.
Parvenu, 201, 205, 226.
Paul, 182.
Peddling, 22, 49, 60.
Pentateuch, translation of, 6,
10,
Persecution, 20, 27, 32, 33, 185,
281.
Persia, 214, 283.
Persians, 214, 229.
Philanthropic colonisation, 255,
284.
Philo, 16, 30.
Philosophy, study of, 130-132.
Phoenicia, 30.
Piety, 142, 148, 153, 154,
Pinsker, Leo, 277.
Pissaro, 220.
Plantations, 246, 253, 285, 289.
r^lHattdeutsch, 260,
Poetry, 220.
Poland, 32, 33, 42, 44, 104, III,
112, 197, 237. 263.
Poverty of Jews, 55, 67,
Prague, 32, 115, 153.
Prayer, 143, 149.
Pride of race, 213.
Prolificness, 12, 72-74.
Protestantism, 149, 152, 174,
176.
Protestants, 160, 164, 170, 174,
176.
Prussia, 33, 70-72, 75, 82, 92,
101, 102, 126, 130, 163, 165,
172, 174, 175, 179, 183, 2n.
Prussia, East Provinces of, 96,
102.
Public schools, students of, 124-
129-
R
Rabbis, 120, 145, 146.
Race, 138-139, 141, 158, 171^
175. 179, 203, 213, 216, 2X8,
225, 226-231.
Race culture, 227.
Rationalism, 18, 142, 15 1, 154,
188, 219.
Reform Judaism, ii, 16, 94,
153 -
Religious instruction, 12 1, 129,
151-
Rischon-le-Zion, 249.
Ritual, 5, 12, 137, 139, 141.
Roi, de la, 178, 183, 192.
Rosenfeld, Morris, 63.
Rothschild, Baron Edmond de,
249, 277, 284.
Roumania, 42, 56, 58, 61, 65, 67,
75, 86-88, 102- 103, 169, 201,
206, 243.
Rubinstein, 220.
Russia, 3, II, 36-37, 56-58, 60,
68, 86, 91, 92, 95, 100, 1 12, 113,
117, 123, 124, 133, 134, 185,
197, 243-246, 267. 278.
Ruthenians, 113, 263.
Saadiah, 17.
Sabbatai Zevi, 5, 35.
Sabbatarians, 35.
Sabbath, 12, 152, 155.
Sadducees, 16.
Safed, 103, 276, 282, 284.
Salomon ibn Gebirol, 18.
Salonica, 35, 103, 282.
Samaritans, 35, 141.
Samson school, 128.
Samuel ben Chofni Hakohen, 18.
Sanhedrin (of France), 159.
Saxony, 92, 165, 177.
Schokland, 159.
Scholasticism, 231.
Schools, Jewish, 121, 122, 128,
237-238, 297.
Non-Jewish, 120, 123, 134,
23^-237.
Technical, 125, 127.
Sculpture, 220.
INDEX
309
Semites, 214.
Semon, 218.
Sephardim, no, 160, 217, 264,
281, 282,
Servia, 187.
Shekel, 278.
Sicily, 28.
Side-locks, ii, 12, 147.
Simson, 217.
Skin colour, 171.
Slavonic languages, 115, 116,
117-
Social status, 23, 24, 47, 48,
202.
Lack of, 189, 194.
Sombart, 25, 49.
South Africa, 91.
South America, 162, 189.
South Arabia, 283.
South Europe, 214.
Spain, 18, 19, 32, 44, 1 12, 182,
275 -
SpanioUsch, n, no, 116, 262.
Speculation, love of, 49, 51,
63.
Spinoza, 19, 233.
Standard of life, 51, 52, 57,
201.
Sterility, 75* 174-
Strabo, 31,
Strassburg, 131.
Surinam, 52.
Sweating, 62, 64, 93, 204.
Symbolism, 150.
55magogue, attendance at, 13,
149, 152, 153-
Service, 152, 153.
Syria, 17, 31, 112, 122, 216.
Talmud, 17, 121, 141-142, 217,
231.
Talmud scholars, 18, 120, 217,
218, 232.
Technical schools, 125, 127.
Tephillin, 147, 150.
Territorialism, 268.
Thon, Jacob, 220,
Tiberias, 103, 276, 282, 284.
Tivoli-program, 198.
Torah, 122.
Trade, 49, 51, 64, 66, 93, 100,
103.
Tradition, Jewish, 117, 134, 135,
236-
Triest, 162, 167.
Trusts, 51.
Turkey, 26, 41, 270, 288-290.
Turkish Government, 271, 282,
285 et seq,
I-anguage, 263.
U
Uganda, 269.
United States, 52, 85-90, 94,
162, 200, 246.
Universities, 129-133, 199, 260,
279, 280.
Usurers, 7, 47, 49.
Vegetable growing, 247, 249,
.254, 255, 294.
Versatility, 49, 50, 51.
Vienna, 32, 117, 189, 190, J91.
View of life, 232,
Vine culture, 249, 253.
Vocation, differences of, 4, 140.
Vocations followed by Jews, 56,
62-63, 64, 89.
Of offenders, 225.
W
Wasserman, Rudolf, 220.
Wealth of the Jews, 52, 53.
Weissenberg, 213.
Western Europe, 12*5, 129, 154,
297, 301-
Women’s work, 64, 252.
Wonder-working Rabbis, 145,
146.
Woodbine, 246, 254.
Worms, 32.
X
Xantochroi, 213.
310
INDEX
y
Yemen, 182, 293.
Yiddish, 7, ii, 110-115, 259, 260,
261.
Overthrow of, 117.
Yom Kippur, 152.
Zaddik, 144, 145.
Zangwill, 136, 147, 266, 268
Zerubabel, 30.
Zionism, 266, 268, 270, 275 ei seq»
Zionism, Cultural, 297.
Zionist Congresses, 278, 288.
Zitsith, 139, 147.
Zohar, 5.
Zollschan, 213, 220.
Zun2, Leopold, 153, 183.
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